At your risk.
It seems we all tend to sing flat as some of us may hear flat (below true pitch, see chapter 6 The Mind Influence, Sound and Hearing - Stevens, Warshofsky).
Do great singers increase the frequency just other attack?
Is this iterative process creating the vibrato itself?
Hello _ Lionel Ritchie
I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
At your risk.
Currently trying microphones at a distance of 3 to 6 feet away from the right side of the piano. Microphones such as Shure Unidyne B, Fostex M55RP.
Recordings are so far in mono, just one microphone directly connected to the right channel of SONY TC-D5M.
Sound is improving but reflections still almost ruin the result.
Removing the lid clears up the sound.
Tuning well the piano is very important.
A song without a record producer is like a ship without sea.
At your risk.
Too much time was spend on choosing microphones, whether digital or analog and so on when there are much more important areas.
For example whether the singer sings out of tune. Most singers seem to sing flat except the exceptional ones. I am humbly currently training myself to increase pitch just after the attack of each note. As I do more of this it seems to me by listening that the great singers also do the same. So recordings of my voice sound so much better no matter which microphone is chosen.
Acoustics or lack of pay a tremendous role. For example recording outdoors where there are very much less early reflections can make almost any microphone sound exceptional. Bass muddiness, prominence, mid confusion, treble hardness, sibilance almost gone. Microphone distance can be increased and still the vocal sounds close and coming out of the speakers. Windshield should be used to protect the microphone.
In general microphones sound so much better at a distance, for example 24in. Most microphones, directional ones are to pick up parallel acoustic waves, not spherical ones. Spherical waves create the bass, mid boost proximity effect. And the closer to the microphone, the worst. The further the best as we increasingly depart from spherical wave front towards straight line wave front. Then frequency response becomes straight, that is even for most frequency bands. High frequency detail shines as there is no masking effect from other frequency bands.
Monitoring is very important, good commercial recordings should sound great.
Experience so far demonstrates that we are not to mic the mouth. Pointing the microphone towards head, or nose produces much better and more natural result.
Repertoire is extremely important. The good song, composition is what drives it all.
Some aspects of good music with commercial capability are covered on a book currently being written or euroelectron titled A Letter to Clive Davies.
https://euroelectron.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-letter-to-clive-davis.html
At your risk.
A suitable fuse must be used in series with any battery.
On previous posts it can be seen that only the 2nd grid, the nearest one to the direct heated cathode after the control 1st grid, was used as anode.
Yesterday all grids that can be connected together were joined in order to create the anode. Anode current still increased as more electrons could be collected.
For Va=1.3V and Vb=9.3V...
When control grid is at space potential. Ia=20uA to 30uA.
When grid is connected through 8.2M to (-) terminal of Va, Ia=100uA.
When grid is connected through 8.2M to (+) terminal of Va. Ia+140uA!
In this last case if an anode load resistor, Rl=24K is connected Ia=70uA!, Va=7.7V.
This is amazing considering that anode supply comes from just a 9V battery.
Today input and output transformers were connected through coupling capacitors.
The Shure Unidyne B microphone was feeding the input transformer, and the output transformer was feeding the SONY TC-D5M.
Soft singing male voice was at 24in from microphone, microphone higher than head, pointing head at 30 degrees.
The sound quality was very nice, and the preamplifier worked even when grid was at space potential.
Microphony was high and interesting, a loud glass metal sound when the electron tube was gently hit by a finger nail.
Hiss was higher than expected. RF pickup was suspected, as all was constructed with long cables on a table without a chassis. So to prove this the input transformer circuit was removed, and a link cable was connected between minus supply and input capacitor. Hiss almost disappeared!, while the SONY TC-D5 was at full REC level volume.
It all looks promising as a very low noise input amplifier and a diecast aluminum orange box will be used to make the 1st prototype.
At your risk.
Today at about 7am the stand supporting the Shure Unidyne B microphone was bravely placed outside on the balcony.
Acoustic guitar (with thinner strings at tuned higher than 440Hz in order to create slightly higher than times 2 overtones which are more euphonic than x2, that is second harmonic octaves) and male voice were recorded by direct connection of the microphone to the right channel of the SONY TC-D5M.
The microphone was about 24in away from the mouth, 1 foot or so higher than the head.
The recording has some of the amazing sound for example of the 40's to 60's era.
Crisp sound, with detail and no offending bass.
Since every recording sounds more reverberant than real life, a microphone has no brain [reference]. recording outdoors sounds somehow magic.
The birds was a problem! In fact the bird sounded so loud and crispy clear with amazing overtones that it was mistakenly thought not to be in the recording!
Reference: Cinema Engineering (this book was found as reference on Elements of Sound Recording - Frayne, Wolfe)
At your risk.
See also previous post on increasing the distance between soundboard and back wall.
For the time being the upright Pleyel model 9 piano (made in approximately 1921) was very carefully (see previous post on avoiding health or other injury) was separated from back wall at least one more foot from a usual position in a house and placed in a non parallel position.
This has already created some openness to the sound.
The piano was tried in a recording by having the front wooden panel removed which again should create standing waves. This had a very good effect on recording by direct comparison with recording with the piano closed. By comparing the playback the sound was more real, more open, more loud, more easy, less fatiguing.
The front lower wooden panel could also be tried to be removed while recording.
Recording took place by having just one Shure Unidyne B (made in Mexico) at about 60in distance, a bit higher from the piano, at about 30 to 40 degrees in reference to piano line, on the right hand side of the piano. The microphone was connected to the right channel only on the SONY TC-D5M.
At your risk.
The back wall and the soundboard, 2 material surfaces of high area should produce standing waves in air.
Same thing with a grand piano between soundboard and floor. But the distance here is greater, creating a more open sound.
But it this respect the upright piano is more advantageous since the back of soundboard to wall distance can be made much greater than on a grand by for example placing the piano at about 90m degrees to said wall. (An assistance of many people should be used for moving safely the piano and avoiding injury. If there is skill the mechanism and other wooden parts lids etc could be removed in order to make the piano less heavy. using its wheels should help too.
Is it nonsense to have an upright piano close tro the back wall since half of its sound at least is radiated from the back of the huge vibrating soundboard?
At your risk.
See previous posts on how this piano was repaired.
As it settled at around A 446Hz, it was decided to use this reference as octaves plus 3rds sounded very euphonic together with the corresponding low note. For example playing E flat together with a high G. There was corresponding cacophony when the piano had been tuned to higher than 450Hz.
So it seems the 5th overtone of a low note mates almost perfectly with no beats with the corresponding high note fundamental when this piano with apparently the original? Ferminy factory strings was tuned on reference A 446Hz.
Octaves correspond greatly too giving what the human brain wants which is slightly higher than times 2.
The upright piano distance from the back wall has been increased to better effect see nearby post.
For explanation on overtones see Piano Tuning - Reblitz, Musical Acoustics - Hall.
