One of my favorite things about working with virtual instruments or even being able to manipulate recorded sound is that I have the opportunity to use or create different sounds without being limited by physical space or equipment. I own pedals, but it can be costly to outfit your board the way you want. My keyboard only supports a handful of sounds, and the Moog I want is expensive!
So I plan to cover several different blending, manipulation, creation methods, tips, and ideas in the future, but today I'm going to hit keyboard blends, particularly grand piano with another keyboard sound. I understand that many of my readers are already past the blending of two tracks to get the sound you want, but many of my readers are curious fans and novices. And personally I think it's a lot of fun to hear these blends separated out to understand them better.
The first blend I'm going to cover is simply a way to add some sparkle and depth to a grand piano sound. Many pieces benefit greatly from beefing up the piano line by layering it with another keyboard instrument. Sometimes I vary blends of up to five different keyboard sounds (a grand, an upright, a Rhodes, a custom keyboard, and an organ for example). Other times I keep it simple. This one is just taking a grand piano and a vintage keyboard vst setting (such as a Wurlitzer or a Rhodes).
If you are new to this, note that it requires pulling in your piano line via MIDI from a digital piano or keyboard. In the example today, all that playing is me, relatively unedited save for entrance and exit times. I could have just recorded my grand piano, but I would not have the data to apply a different sound. This blending is made possible by being able to record the MIDI data, including all of my nuances and sustain pedal.
This is, admittedly, one of my favorite blends. If you choose a Rhodes you get a chime-like sound on the middle and upper notes and a slight ambiance. If you choose a Wurlitzer you get a great vintage feel with more of a middle toned shimmer. Personally I think the Wurlitzer adds warmth. Of course you can mess with the EQ on either line to get the exact blend you want. I often scoop a little out around the frequency of my vocals if I'm singing too.
For this particular example, I am using the Dimension Pro 2 plugin for my virtual instruments. For the grand, I'm using the Grand Piano 3v 4th rt sim. If this doesn't mean much to you, no worries! It means I'm using a very versatile, realistic grand piano sound. Not everyone is using the same software, so if you choose a rather responsive grand piano sound, you'll be in the ballpark. For the keyboard, I chose a Wurlitzer (Wurlitzer p, which just is the softer, less brash of the Wurlitzer choices in my library). In the example here I don't have a vocal, so I didn't adjust for one, however, I scooped a little out of the Grand Piano: I scooped about 500 to 1500 Hz (with the center bottoming about 1K) and then did the same about 1K to 8K (bottoming about 2.5 or 3K). Note that I did not take the levels of these frequencies down much. I simply brought down the middle-high regions of the Piano to allow the Wurlitzer tones to shine where I want them to. For me, it's really matter of taste. I think this particular Wurlitzer vst sound is best when the frequencies between 1 and 2 Hz really come through. I love my bass sounds really resonating from the Grand Piano without getting too mushy. Wurlitzer sounds are often too muddy in the bass region for me, especially in Dimension Pro, or it becomes so soft that you can't rely on it resonating, depending on which Wurlitzer you choose. I know I'm over-explaining it!
Anywho....
Here's the Piano part on it's own:
And here's the Wurlitzer on it's own:
Now here is what happens when I combine the two:
What you should notice is that it's a relatively subtle effect, but it sounds now like I have a very rich piano with a slightly electric feel. While many are probably saying that they like the piano by itself, I think the Wurlitzer gives the piano part the warmth that I'm going for in this particular improvisation. I would perhaps adjust the levels slightly to bring down the Wurlitzer just a tiny bit, but overall, this is the feel I'm going for.
So, just to briefly summarize here, when I feel a piano part is a bit stark or is getting lost in the mix, I'll often throw in another keyboard sound to blend with the piano. It's a neat way to get a sound I may not have buried in my libraries and I can tweak the levels of each track to achieve the right blend. All of this is subjective of course, and I encourage a lot of experimenting with different blends to find ones that work for you.
Other later posts will continue to discuss different plugins, effects, tips, tricks, etc for electronic and other music recordings. Please send me your suggestions for posts in the comments, via my website, or to my twitter account sarahschonert@sarahschonert.
Visit www.sarahschonertmusic.com to learn more about my music.
Definitions for the Layperson:
Track: In these posts, a track is a layer of recorded or programmed sound within my DAW. Each track can be tweaked for volume, panning, effects, etc
VST Plugin: VST stands for "Virtual Studio Technology" and plugins are software modules that work in various DAWs. These are often effects such as filters, EQs, compressors, reverbs, etc and synths / virtual instruments that you can play by way of MIDI controllers.
EQ: Think messing with the Equalizer on your stereo but with finer control. When I discuss EQs I mean the sound frequencies on a track and what I'm doing to volume of those frequencies.
DAW: "Digital Audio Workstation." When I use this term, I'm generally talking about the software in which you record and/or mix your tracks.
MIDI: Stands for "Musical Interface Digital Interface." This is a standard for the protocol and tools that allows for communication of musical notation, pitch, velocity, and more. The best way to learn about this is to go read about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI
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