This is a thread that is somewhat of a continuation of a PW thread I created on the acoustic forum about how to sample your piano "Digitally preserving your piano for free?", and an open offer to cut up the samples and make an SFZ instrument out if it. It's an interesting experience playing a VI of your acoustic on your digital. I love to play OPP (other people's pianos), and helping others sample their instruments allows me to grow my collection.
Below is a copy/paste of one of the directions that I wrote, probably the most detailed one. Feel free to ask questions.
************
Let's see if I can make a more detailed recording description:
1. Set up mics. There's an art to this, but let me just say that make sure that the mics are placed such that the bass and treble strings get a fairly equal balance. Be sure the recordings are done at a good gain level. After you set the gain for the loudest input you plan to record at, don't touch the gain when you record p or mf. This way, I won't have to edit the relative levels between the velocity layers. Just have to adjust velocity transition numbers to taste.
2. When recording, start from A-1 (I'm using Kontakt nomenclature here - the lowest A) and go up the keyboard A(-1), C0, D#0, F#0, A0, C1, etc.
A. Record with pedal down (pedal down sounds better to get more resonance since we're not doing BOTH pedal up and down versions)
B. Record A-1 through A0 notes at 15 seconds, C1 to A1 at 12 seconds, C2 to A2 at 10 seconds, C3 to A3 at 9, C4-A4 at 8, C5-A5 at 7, etc.
NOTE: its not really that important that you get the note length perfectly. It's just a ballpark. I originally described 120bpm/24 beats/12 seconds, but you can use either a metronome with headphones, a stopwatch, or just count to yourself.
Don't use the sustain pedal to lengthen the notes. Make sure you keep your finger down until the end of the note and release with your finger at the correct time. Otherwise, the mics may pick up your finger being taken off too early.
The important thing here is to make a good performance. For pianists, its probably not that difficult. But getting silence in the room, while performing can be a challenge if you want a perfect recording. It helps to not be too picky and just be open to the result you'll end up with. Screwups or background noises make the editing difficult. But a perfect "performance" recording is really easy to edit with my workflow - 10 minutes tops. The thing that takes time (which I'm not volunteering to do) is EQ'ing, mixing more than 1 pair of mics, velocity mapping, and general tweaking to get perfection.
Hope that helps. Since this is a new type of collaboration for me, bear with me if I think of new things to add to this procedure.
