How do I make my solo piano pieces sound good on phones and small speakers?

Musicianaire

New member
I'm using a DAW (Reaper), and using the Addictive Keys plugin for a Steinway piano sound. It's MIDI, which I then convert to audio.

I've recorded a few instrumental solo pieces, which sound good in my headphones and on studio monitors.

When I play them through my phone, however, the sound is much brighter than similar music I listen to on YouTube, where the piano sounds fine.
I'm not using any EQ or compression, since the default Addictive Keys sound is quite good, and sounds fine on normal speakers.

So I'm wondering what others do to keep that nice piano sound, even when played on a phone (like it sounds on YouTube)? If I need to use EQ or compression, do you have any tips as to how much I should apply?

Thanks!
 
We do solo piano music a lot, and pretty much it's our only running income stream, and we have some recorded on a real piano but now the bulk on ones created inside the computer and we often can't tell which is which. Your most likely issue is excessive stereo width which is masked on pianos listened to on stereo monitoring systems. Listen to your recordings in your studio in mono. Does it sound the same but just central, or does it change in timbre and become weaker or perhaps 'thinner'? We can tell if you put up a sample. Otherwise, have you added additional reverb that is fighting with the reverb in your VST? That's also Mono destructive. My guess is it's probably the excessive width causing mono cancellation.
 
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