by Hugh-AR » 20 Jan 2020 12:13
A few comments from me on 'Piano with Strings'.
The piano is a 'percussive' instrument, so when you play a note you hear the 'hammer' hitting and sounding the note .. and then the note fades away .. irrespective of whether you keep the note pressed down or not. Then there are other instruments that 'continuously sound' as you keep that note pressed down, like Strings or Horn or Organ voices. So what goes well with piano is a 'continuously sounding voice' .. so long as you adjust your 'playing technique' and hold the notes down a little longer than you would when just playing a piano. Then the 'continuous' sound will come to the fore. You wouldn't want another 'percussive' voice, like a vibraphone, as you wouldn't hear them as separate instruments.
Another thing that helps you to hear each instrument when they are playing 'together' is to PAN them; one to the left and one to the right. You will then hear them as separate instruments.
It is also important to 'balance' your instruments by adjusting their volumes so that one instrument is the predominant one and the other is sounding in the background.
And finally, it often helps if your two voices are at different 'octaves' eg. piano at 8' and strings at 4'. I have been listening to some YouTube videos where they have chosen several different instruments playing together, and haven't bothered to pan them or change the octave. All the sound comes from the middle and you'd have a job identifying what instruments are playing. Frankly, it sounds a mess!
So, a lot to think about when playing two instruments together.
Listening to Den's DEMO above of Piano, Strings and Tenor Sax together. For starters, he has panned the piano to the left; the tenor sax to the right; and the strings are in the middle. And then the icing on the cake is that he has got the Harmony switched on so the piano is playing multiple notes. But the tenor sax, coming from the right, is just a single note, and this emphasises the melody. What a great combination of sound! Thanks for posting this, Den! Your idea of having the Harmony on so the piano is playing multiple notes is just brilliant!
Hugh
It's all about the music ♫ ♪ ♫ Organ: Yamaha AR80 & Keyboard: Tyros 4
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