The piano sound can be difficult to blend in the mix due to its complex tone dynamics, especially if it’s not properly recorded. Therefore, in the next tutorial, we will show you a different approach that can help you make your piano stand out in the mix.
Piano Chord processing
In our SoundBridge: DAW we have prepared a short sequence. It contains some basic rhythm, bassline and of course a piano chord sequence. Let’s hear the full mix as well as the unprocessed piano sequence.
~Full Mix-Unprocessed Piano
~Piano-Unprocessed
PianoCentric by Waves audio
The piano from the example above should sound soft and warm, but we think it can have a bit more clarity and sit better in the mix. With the help of the tool called PianoCentric by Waves audio, some EQ-ing and a bit of reverb we are pretty sure we can fix that. But let’s take one step at a time. The PianoCentric is a kind of quick solution for processing and shaping your piano or keyboard recordings, with options varying from gorgeous full-range piano to lo-fi filtered sounds. That being said let’s look at its interface.
The Interface
As we can see there are not so many parameters to control with PianoCentric. Left and right sides are reserved for Input and Output values and followed by appropriate metering indicators. The main portion of the effect shows a big knob which is the core of this effect. If the big knob is in the center than there is no processing taking place. But, if you move it to the left there are lots of things going on. For example, you will start to hear some filtering, compression, and the sound becoming more mono.
This is the way you want to go if you want your piano really punches to the mix. If you are going to choose the right side, the sound becomes smoother and wider with more warm characteristics of the sound, Finally, we can see two little knobs on the right side of the big one, which is really useful and nice sounding delay as well as doubler effect which can help your piano to sound even more wider.
Since we have finished with the brief introduction of this effect, we can hear how our piano sounds processed with PianoCentric.
~Piano-Processed with PianoCentric
After processing with PianoCentric, we still feel that this piano needs a bit more space which can be achieved with a bit of reverb. So that’s what we are going to do. Let us hear it now.
~Piano-Processed with PianoCentric and Reverb
Audio examples
Finally, let us hear the full mix with processed piano.
~Full Mix-Processed Piano
Feel free to download the project here.
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