This is a great way for new audiences to appreciate older material.
This dramatic breakthrough literally captures the pianist’s original performance intentions, even if their full expression was obscured by the limitations of the original recording, and makes possible a marketable new recording that places the listener back at the moment of creation.
Imagine listening to Scott Joplin play with the latest tech. You could even transpose the instrument so he’s playing any kind of keyboard.
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good tech, but remember that a digital remastering can never revive a dead recording. It’s like making something out of nothing. That being said, the program does a good job at removing most of the crackling, except for, it seems, in the forte’s, where the crackling comes back
No, no. You don’t get it.
This technology literally tracks the keywork of the performer to capture the tempo, rythm, and impact of their performance and then uses that information in the manner of a player piano roll to drive a modern keyboard.
It is not a recording in the traditional sense, it is a snapshot of the style of the performer converted into MIDI information.
Nice.
And I thought the conversion of old player-piano rolls to midi was neat…
http://members.shaw.ca/smythe/archive.htm
Since it allows us to hear stuff like this…
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Gershwin/79370.html
Now, they can make a midi file from recordings – which are undoubtably much more common than player-rolls.
First the RIAA monopolized music by controlling it’s distribution.
The model changed, and now artists produce recordings to create exposure for new material, and monetize the product by touring.
Now ticketmaster will monopolize music by controlling it’s distribution by recording the concert, thus eliminating the need for more than one performance during a tour.
The nice thing is that the old stuff is in the public domain.
Don’t know if you ever saw this, Alix; but, it suggests even more possibilities. Herbie Hancock made a documentary during a European tour a decade or so ago. One concert he did — ended the first half of the evening with a 20 minute piece — solo piano.
That was digitally recorded — and he opened the second half of the evening by playing a duet with himself. A second piano on the stage was hooked up to a computer for playback — and he rocked with himself.
Imagine the possibilities of adding musicians from the past — into a contemporary group!
Hi Eideard,
I know 6 years have passed since you posted your comment (!), but I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I happened upon it.
I have been looking for footage of that very concert for years (it was/is amazing), but up until now my searches have drawn a complete blank.
I was wondering, therefore, if by any chance you knew the title of the documentary or, at least, where you saw it? I know it’s a long-shot but there’s no harm in asking, is there?
Regards
Bandoolie
#5 But will the new recording still be public domain? Somehow I doubt it.
The new thing extracted here is just MIDI data…it’s not a recording in and of itself (other than just data). Now, if they choose to take that data and put it through a MIDI piano and record THAT, then yeah, they could sell it as a performance and copyright that performance.
The MIDI data extracted, that’s a good question. If that itself will be freely available and if it will be copywritten or public domain.
Lots of grey areas here.
Great! It will be interesting to see as well what other uses this technique might be put to.
I like Eidard’s idea. I’d love to hear a mix of famous musicians playing some old favorites (I guess they’d have to be favorites so we can find recordings from enough musicians).
Midi doesn’t have the resolution to capture a human-quality performance.
11 …human-quality performance…
at least not any generally-available MIDI equipment I could purchase.
Because the Yamaha Disklavier Pro reproducing piano is the only musical instrument in production that is capable of high-definition MIDI playback, the piano has been the focus of Zenph’s efforts to date.
You might be able to get a synth to play it back easily, but the Yamaha is the only “analog” instrument that can play this stuff.
I’m curious as to how ‘exactingly’ the performances are recreated. On grainy recordings it might be difficult to determine the individual velocities of every note in a chord and other minutae. And capturing “the pianist’s original performance intentions”… Oh please. How does one determinte intention from an old recording, or from a live performance even?
#4, do you really think people will pay money to sit and watch a disklavier? Even if there is no discernable acoustic difference between a live performer and a disklavier, I’d much rather watch a person like Jerry Lee Lewis live than hear an exact replica on a machine.
Um…what are you talking about that MIDI doesn’t have the resolution to capture a human-quality performance. Do you even know what MIDI is? It’s not a sound format if that’s what you’re thinking.
But I agree with DiscoDoug…who would want to sit and listen to a recreation of a performance? I guess maybe the younger generations growing up may have different sensibilities when it comes to art and music. Just like when I was growing up my parents couldn’t understand the music I liked (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Clapton etc etc) just like I can’t understand the thing being passed off as “music” today. So who knows, maybe there will be people that sit around and just watch a disklavier crank out an exact replica of Jerry Lee.
This sounds like fun, but- couldn’t a talented musician with a good ear do the same thing?
Interesting, but reproducing pianos are nothing new. Duo-Art and others made recording pianos that worked something like a player piano, using a paper roll, but they captured detail such as key pressure, etc. in addition to just the notes. Not perfect, but they did capture a great deal of the nuance of a performance. All mechanically.
They even made reproducers that could play back on any standard piano, with the mechanism placed over the keyboard.
In the early 20th century, such greats as George Gershwin recorded on them. IIRC, the Nethercutt collection at San Sylmar, in addition to several of these, has a 1980s recording piano and theatre organ, that uses a computer and (probably reel tape) to do the same thing.
Fascinating stuff,
Dave
13,
You may not want to watch a lone piano play, but you can’t see the performers when you listen to the CD. Do you avoid recorded music? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a fresh recording of an old master?You wouldn’t be forced to buy tickets, I promise.
I am a year late but I will take a shot, anyway.
Surely, I am one of millions who would pay to sit in an auditorium to hear the likes of Glenn Gould, Rubinstein, Hofmann, or Art Tatum at their peaks, live on stage via this technology.
One day I will be able to afford to spend a hundered grand on one of these pianos and listen to the Goldberg Variations the way they ought to be heard.