Why is this piano piece so quiet?

[davidoff]

I'm not trying to plug anything here, I'm just genuinely curious why this recording came out so quiet:

http://soundcloud.com/david-s-conway/the-last-rose-of-summer

I have it so that the max volume goes as close as possible to 0.0 dB without going over. If I pump that up any higher, there is extremely noticeable distortion, which is why I'm confused. I also find it curious that it sounds kind of the same volume throughout: the "loud" parts sound fuller and more intense, but not actually louder, if that makes any sense. The piano is the GPO4 Steinway, if that makes any difference. Could it just be that the piano sample itself is very quiet?

It also sounds kind of muddy on lower-quality speakers/headphones. If anyone has any ideas how I might approach solving these issues to create a respectable-sounding recording, I'd be extremely grateful.

[Rozovian]

It's not that quiet, and you really don't wanna destroy the dynamics of solo piano piece. That said:

You can roll off some of the low end. I did a 24dB/octave high pass at 50Hz. That'll keep any low lows from pushing peaks.

To counter the mud, I did a -2dB low shelf from 500Hz and a +2dB boost around 5kHz. Some EQ surgery can get you more exact numbers, but those two seem to work.

Some gentle compression can boost the softer parts. I had the compressor right after the EQ, with a threshold of -8dB, ratio of 1.5:1, 2ms attack, 600ms release. Seems to work ok.

That gave me about 6db of headroom to work with, but as it peaks above 0dB you should use a limiter to prevent clipping. Screwing with the compressor more can probably get you a dB or two more to work with without messing up the dynamics too much.

You can test how loud you want this to be by boosting it disregarding clipping and compression problems just to see how loud you want it to not sound out of place next to pro-recorded and pro-mixed piano tracks.

There's tricks like multiband compression and parallel compression that might get you a little more loudness if you need it, and beyond that you'd probably have to mess with the mic setup to get it any louder, but that's something I don't have any experience in. I hope this stuff helps.

[davidoff]

That's mostly Greek to me, but it gives me some stuff to look up and figure out and play around with -- I've been scared to touch compression and EQ because I haven't had a good introduction to using them, but I guess it's about time to grow up and jump in, right?

I'm amazed by how quickly you were able to figure all that out -- thanks so much!

...you'd probably have to mess with the mic setup to get it any louder...

I should've specified: it's all MIDI; there are no mics involved. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

[Rozovian]

That's mostly Greek to me, but it gives me some stuff to look up and figure out and play around with -- I've been scared to touch compression and EQ because I haven't had a good introduction to using them, but I guess it's about time to grow up and jump in, right?

I'm amazed by how quickly you were able to figure all that out -- thanks so much!

...

I should've specified: it's all MIDI; there are no mics involved. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Yeah, doing stuff means you'll have to put whatever notions of what to do with stuff into practice. My process for teaching/learning/whatever is to alternate between studying and experimenting. What I wrote serves as study, now experiment with those things. The go back to studying. Then back to experimenting. This means you'll be more familiar with the theory when you enter the practical stuff, and likewise when you return to theory. When there's something you don't get, google it, read about it. When there's something you don't know what it does - do something with it.

Thank me later, if any of that actually helps. Stuff goes fast when you've done it a few times in a few different ways. I've failed my way into knowing this stuff. So will you, if you try.

With midi you're limited to the samples you've got (can't change mic position, type etc), but you've also got more control over them in ways you don't with a real instrument. You can apply filters to boost specific parts of each note's spectrum (each note is made up of a lot of frequencies). For example, you could put a light bandpass filter over the notes and make the harmonics (higher frequencies in sync with the fundamental) a few octaves above the note you press stand out - making those frequencies clearer and making it easier to distinguish what notes are actually played. That can also help with mud.