compressing a digital piano

  • Thread starter Thread starter lizardville
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lizardville

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HI guys, Hope you could clarify this issue.


This is my first recording using the roland rd-300gx, emulating a grand piano. Im recording it in stereo and want to add some compression using an ART VLA II.

My question is: should I use the "link" mode or use in stereo. Could be a question of taste but what do you guys recomend?

Im looking for a big spread sound.

thanks in advance
 
Link the channels.

But I'm not convinced wideband compression would be that great on piano.
 
Stereo I'd guess...but I think the best way is...wait for it...

try them both and see which one is more what you're looking for.
 
thanks guys for confusing me a bit more :):p

whats the consensus on the way to get a more natural sound then?
 
I've used a wideband compressor on a digital keyboard once or twice. I used it so that it just slightly cut the peaks off because the setting we used on the keyboard made a few notes sound a bit louder than others (and the player's style too..) Those songs just used the keyboard as an accent sound of sorts, but it seems like your song is all or mostly piano? The keyboard we used generated a bit of it's own "room" sound, but we tracked it DI and i wanted it to sound extra roomy, so a touch of hall verb on it made it really sound sweet and it came to life. Just some thoughts..
 
Link the two in stereo- this makes sure both sides compress together to avoid a "teeter-tottering" effect as the artist moves from left to right through the stereo field. You'll probably find that "auto attack" and "fast release" work well here.
Stereo source= stereo (linked) compression. Of course there are exceptions, but that's what makes them exceptions :)
 
thanks again
I think I´ll go for the "link" option and will add reverb on the mixing stage.

the ART VLA II seems to have a very slow attack. What settings would you suggest Considering the piano will be the main melodic instrument?

Cheers
 
lizardville said:
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the ART VLA II seems to have a very slow attack.
Click to expand...

Where are you setting the attack...all the way counter-clockwise...?
Isn't that fast enough?
I don't know if you want it to really chop off the transients too fast.

You know what I do with digital pianos to give them some analog life...(and this obviously may not be an option for you)....I run them through a tape deck.
The other option is to run them DI into a preamp...tube pre would be nice.
Finally, you can play it through a speaker setup, and then record that with mics...preferably with a stereo configuration, assuming you want/need that much stereo spread.
 
Nice.

I forgot to mention that both stereo channels are hitting a VTB1 preamp before going to the compressor. In order to give a bit of tube sound.

I´ve recording guitars for a while but has not much experience with digital pianos

thanks to everyone and keep your options coming
 
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