Comment Minor corrections and comments (Score 1) 196
First of all, the concert is not only given by 2 dead pianists. I'm the performer of the recital. The 2 dead pianists are present during the middle of the recital where we will demo this new technology.
For all of you who has reservations about the results, i suggest that you come and hear the demo. This is not about getting a piece of music performed the way a composer wants it performed. It is also not about taking an old recording and "cleaning it up". What this technology will do, is completely recreate the original performance. And before we can legitimately question the accuracy of this re-performance, we need to look at the chain that constitutes a recording. In the original recording session, there are the following variables:
1. The performer, who is playing the piece on a piano whichever way they preferred.
2. The actual acoustic recording, going from mics to preamps to tape/dat/cylinder/whatever the method maybe.
3. The acoustics of the hall, room, space that the recording is taking place in.
In the re-performance cycle, there are the following variables:
1. Deciphering the original performance from the other variables, such as recording noise, reverb, out-of-tune notes, etc. However, the original performance's qualities to be preserved include nuances of tone, minute timing changes for every single note, loudness of every single note, pedal usage (including different gradations of pedal), and many other things.
2. Playing back this "essence" of the performance on a Yamaha Disklavier Pro.
3. Accurately matching the Yamaha Disklavier Pro to the sound and tone qualities of the piano used in a recording, and adding whatever acoustic ambience variations to the performance (space, hall, room, etc).
The purpose of the re-performance is to throw out all of the variables during the recording, except for the performer. The ability of the Yamaha Disklavier Pro to reproduce this is not to be questioned - When it is accurately calibrated, I cannot tell the difference between my own performance and a played back version. In fact, if I were to acoustically record my own performances, and the played-back performances of the Disklavier Pro, i would not be able to distinguish between the two (with a few minor exceptions, at least as far as the Mark III Pro is concerned).
What this means, is that there are 2 variables still to be controlled in the playback cycle. The piano and the acoustics, and the actual "decoding" of the performance. The demonstration on May 19th will be about the decoding. All of the other variables, save the piano matching, has been take care of.
It is an amazing piece of technology, and I say this as someone who has critiqued the process every step of the way, and has seen the results firsthand, multiple times. Come on out, enjoy the recital, and see the tech demo.
Mei-Ting Sun
For all of you who has reservations about the results, i suggest that you come and hear the demo. This is not about getting a piece of music performed the way a composer wants it performed. It is also not about taking an old recording and "cleaning it up". What this technology will do, is completely recreate the original performance. And before we can legitimately question the accuracy of this re-performance, we need to look at the chain that constitutes a recording. In the original recording session, there are the following variables:
1. The performer, who is playing the piece on a piano whichever way they preferred.
2. The actual acoustic recording, going from mics to preamps to tape/dat/cylinder/whatever the method maybe.
3. The acoustics of the hall, room, space that the recording is taking place in.
In the re-performance cycle, there are the following variables:
1. Deciphering the original performance from the other variables, such as recording noise, reverb, out-of-tune notes, etc. However, the original performance's qualities to be preserved include nuances of tone, minute timing changes for every single note, loudness of every single note, pedal usage (including different gradations of pedal), and many other things.
2. Playing back this "essence" of the performance on a Yamaha Disklavier Pro.
3. Accurately matching the Yamaha Disklavier Pro to the sound and tone qualities of the piano used in a recording, and adding whatever acoustic ambience variations to the performance (space, hall, room, etc).
The purpose of the re-performance is to throw out all of the variables during the recording, except for the performer. The ability of the Yamaha Disklavier Pro to reproduce this is not to be questioned - When it is accurately calibrated, I cannot tell the difference between my own performance and a played back version. In fact, if I were to acoustically record my own performances, and the played-back performances of the Disklavier Pro, i would not be able to distinguish between the two (with a few minor exceptions, at least as far as the Mark III Pro is concerned).
What this means, is that there are 2 variables still to be controlled in the playback cycle. The piano and the acoustics, and the actual "decoding" of the performance. The demonstration on May 19th will be about the decoding. All of the other variables, save the piano matching, has been take care of.
It is an amazing piece of technology, and I say this as someone who has critiqued the process every step of the way, and has seen the results firsthand, multiple times. Come on out, enjoy the recital, and see the tech demo.
Mei-Ting Sun
