Tips for Good Ragtime Sound?

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DanTheSongwriter
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Tips for Good Ragtime Sound?

Post by DanTheSongwriter »

I'm basically a guitar player but wrote a little ragtime piano piece. Any tips/tricks for getting a good piano sound? Pianissimo obviously sounds good but was wondering if there's any 'special sauce' tips for equalizing/compression, etc.??

Thanks.
jwarv
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Re: Tips for Good Ragtime Sound?

Post by jwarv »

I'd go with Noisy Honky Tonk Piano in the preset list. You can always tweak to taste. You also may want to listen to actual Ragtime on Spotify or Youtube to compare and dial in EQ until it comes close. That's what I would do anyway.
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Mark Bliss
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Re: Tips for Good Ragtime Sound?

Post by Mark Bliss »

Yeah, to me a ragtime piano sound would probably be more "ratty old bar room upright" than classical grand piano.

I'd suggest in addition to jwarv's suggestion, first, I would turn off the built in reverb, then perhaps try just a hint of saturation/distortion to dirty it up a hint.

Theres a certain frequency range to highlight, as suggested.
Maybe more "bright tink" and less "round mids"

FYI there are certainly other piano vsti that would probably be a better starting point.
Toontracks has sampled a couple of vintage style/sounding uprights. And I cant recall who- but someone also markets one called "firewood piano" that is sampled from a piano with a broken soundboard, but that may be too extreme...
Stay in tune, Mark

My SOUNDCLOUD Page
DanTheSongwriter
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 11:36 am
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Re: Tips for Good Ragtime Sound?

Post by DanTheSongwriter »

Not too familiar with Pianissimo but that should work fine. Thanks.
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