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  #1  
Old 08-14-2019, 12:44 PM
jphaudio jphaudio is offline
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Default Eq & Compressor for Garritan Solo Grand Piano

Hi, I have been trying different EQ settings to come close to a natural sounding grand piano for a contemporary solo performance. I high-pass from around 30hz and up but have seen different thoughts on this. for the Mids, as an example, Manley VoxBox has their grand piano EQ setting with a bump at 700hz, but I have seen some people dip around this area.

Also, I have been using the Millennia TCL-2 trying a slow to quick attack with a longer release. I found 10-15 millsec attack and 2.1 ratio in the ball park.

I have also tried to just use my ears and find something that sounds good and natural but then it starts sounding thin.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff
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Old 08-14-2019, 01:06 PM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
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Default Re: Eq & Compressor for Garritan Solo Grand Piano

Define 'natural'. Do you want it to sound like what the piano sample set in use sounds like the original it was sampled from? What kind of sound are you really going for? What is the space you're trying to put the piano in? Jazz club, concert hall or what? There's no one set of eq settings that will work for all situations.

You don't say what eq plugin you're using. I'm not a big fan of eq'ing a piano because when I use a sampled instrument I use the best sounding one for the music at hand. Mostly some form of Steinway grand as I hate the harshness of Yamaha grands. If the track really needs the piano to be eq'd in broad strokes I'll go for the Dangerous Bax EQ plugin; elsewise I'll use the SPL Passeq. For really surgical eq I'll go with the bx_digital V3.

If you're using reverb that will have a drastic effect on the sound.

To use a bad pun you're going to have to play this one by ear

I've used the TCL2 on piano and depending on the music being played adjust the attack & release to suit. Try switching between the tube and solid state options. Actually my most recent compressor for piano has been SPL Iron.
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  #3  
Old 08-14-2019, 02:57 PM
jphaudio jphaudio is offline
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Default Re: Eq & Compressor for Garritan Solo Grand Piano

Thank you for the reply. I removed the reverb from the grand piano sample and am going for a natural acoustic grand piano sound for a mellow contemporary composition.

I have removed some muddiness in the mid range and some of the high-end samples were resonating a bit too much, so I brought down those frequencies.

My thought was just to get some advice for basic principals for eq'ing and compression settings sampled grand piano.

I will try switching to the solid state and I have the Bax EQ and will try the SPL Iron.

Thank you!
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  #4  
Old 08-15-2019, 04:27 AM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
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Default Re: Eq & Compressor for Garritan Solo Grand Piano

Quote:
Originally Posted by jphaudio View Post
Thank you for the reply. I removed the reverb from the grand piano sample and am going for a natural acoustic grand piano sound for a mellow contemporary composition.

I have removed some muddiness in the mid range and some of the high-end samples were resonating a bit too much, so I brought down those frequencies.

My thought was just to get some advice for basic principals for eq'ing and compression settings sampled grand piano.

I will try switching to the solid state and I have the Bax EQ and will try the SPL Iron.

Thank you!
There are no basic principles for eq and compression on piano - sampled or not. No 'cut this freq, boost that freq' type of thing. Same for compression although I like very light compression with no more than 1dB gain reduction with attack and release to suit the music being played.

This is one of those where you need to trust your ears.
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  #5  
Old 08-19-2019, 09:13 AM
jphaudio jphaudio is offline
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Default Re: Eq & Compressor for Garritan Solo Grand Piano

Thank you and sorry for the late reply. Working with deadlines.

True what you mentioned....I think I was second guessing my ears and comparing them with all UAD grand piano presets. Over thinking it.

Thanks!


Quote:
Originally Posted by musicman691 View Post
There are no basic principles for eq and compression on piano - sampled or not. No 'cut this freq, boost that freq' type of thing. Same for compression although I like very light compression with no more than 1dB gain reduction with attack and release to suit the music being played.

This is one of those where you need to trust your ears.
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  #6  
Old 08-19-2019, 10:53 AM
musicman691 musicman691 is offline
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Default Re: Eq & Compressor for Garritan Solo Grand Piano

Quote:
Originally Posted by jphaudio View Post
Thank you and sorry for the late reply. Working with deadlines.

True what you mentioned....I think I was second guessing my ears and comparing them with all UAD grand piano presets. Over thinking it.

Thanks!
UAD doesn't do virtual instruments.
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