Difference in perceived loudness: playing piano vs listening

CeDur

Hi! When I play the piano (digital/VST) I crank up the volume knob quite high, because playing on low volume levels makes me 'overplay' (hit higher velocities much often and gives me the feeling of the action to be very heavy). Later, when I listen back to what I've recorded, it suddenly becomes unbearably loud, I have to turn down the knob almost half its way down.

Do you guys exeperience that as well? I'm looking for scientific explanation (or even some hypothesis) for that phenomenon.

Drew-r

CeDur

I do not have a good answer for you but what you describe looks like the opposite of what happens when a player records their DP playing into their DPs internal recorder or flash drive, it sounds good as long as they play it on that DP. But, when they move that recording to another playback device, the volume is too low. This is often remedied by “normalizing” the recording.

What you described seems to be the opposite….. almost like the need to de-normalize.

I think that the recorder on many DPs has a built-in recording gain level that purposely sets the recording gain low for specific reasons. However, since you recorded your playing via VST, i suppose you may have used some sort of DAW program/app to do the recording and if so, does the app not give you a way to adjust + or - the gain level for the recording process?

dore_m

I notice this too, but I thought it's because my acoustic is pretty loud and thus a higher volume is more realistic to me. I typically don't listen to music at the same loudness that my acoustic puts out.

CeDur

Technically the volume is exactly the same when I'm playing and when I'm listening (I play with VI loaded in DAW, recording MIDI and then playing it back), but the perception of loudness changes when I perform 'physical act' of playing the piano. It's purely psychophysiological (?) effect, I believe 😉

It hit me that what is perfect volume for me during playing is much too high when just sitting back and not moving. It's like our brains changes perception of sound when body is in move.

Drew-r

Ive heard and seen it said - even from scientists, broadly speaking - that people born sighted but become blind subsequently develop more acute hearing. I don’t know how science officially explains this but it seems logical that losing (or using less) one sense changes a person’s focus; allows the working sense (s) to be less cluttered with one or more other sensory stimuli. When you are performing (at loud volume) your tactile, visual & associated cognitive senses must occupy / share some of your brains overall focus ….. so maybe its easier to not hear that the sound is too loud while pressing keys.

I imagine that the upper echelon of musicians who, through numerous repetitions of playing, have become exceptionally skilled - “one-with-their-instrument” - they can play for periods somewhat automatically with their mind just sort of drifting, freed, unfettered from thinking about how it feels or looks or sounds.

kawafanboi

this works the same way as watching movies in the dark. the sensor side has dynamic sensitivity.