Hi there,
so, here we go: https://youtu.be/BUioUzLOoI0
Almost an Ardour project. Actually, the task was to produce this overnight. So I put up those two Lewitt LCT440 mics, hooked up an Allen&Heath Qu-16 digital console followed by a Jünger b41 broadcast limiter set to “classical” mode. The result from the digital-only mastering limiter got analog again using a MindPrint DI Port and fed back into the Qu-16 (which doesn’t have digital inputs, apart from A&H’s digital stage box stuff). The digital console recorded everything to USB memory using its internal multitrack recorder. Which is a feature I really like for this kind of thing, no fan noises of any laptops… even more important in for the strings trio I had the next day. Still, I’d probably feel more confident with some Focusrite interface or at least some fancy mics and pre-amps, but this is all based on donations.
It turned out however that my plan to just grab the files from the USB memory didn’t work out in the end. Even though I had used the 29band graphic in the console to my best hearing knowledge, I found some frequencies I didn’t like. And then, the mic positioning turned out to produce a much too dry result, so I felt in need for some Bricasti M7 impulse responses, a little x42eq, and as a safety guard, a bit of Voxengo Elephant mastering limiter and low cut. All of which I applied in Ardour, of course.
Listening to it again now a few days later I think the piano sounds somehow hard. Can’t really find an English word for it. It’s not over-compressed. Except for a few bars, the broadcast limiter didn’t really have do do its stuff. I think I should have put the mics with more distance. Also that grand piano was basically fresh from the factory and probably also sounds like brand new strings etc.
Enjoy and/or let me know what you think.
Best
Niels