J. S. Bach, Eb Allemande, French Suite #4

[jazzyprof]

By day I am a professor of electrical engineering and applied physics.  In my early teens I taught myself to play piano.  I've been taking classical piano lessons on and off for the past 3 years.  Here's my first recording!  I used an MXL 990 microphone about 2 inches from the hammers on the treble side.  The mike was connected to a Tascam US-122 interface whose output went to a Windows laptop running Power Tracks Pro Audio (by PG Mucsic).  The piano is a Yamaha C3 grand.

Your critical comments and feedback would be most welcome!

[Doc_Savage]

the sound quality is awsome very regular , pretty good  i love it, it's relaxing

remember that bach was executing on a clavecin with same level of sound on each note.

verry good 

[jazzyprof]

Thank you Doc!  I will work on acquiring greater evenness of tone.  Indeed I can hear some of the notes jumping out at me.

[Rafant]

Well done, Professor! I like very much this Allemande and the ones from the 1st and 5th French Suites. Serene and stable rhythm, maybe you want to try a little more energic one. Some hesitant notes in the first part, which prevented you of a better phrasing in a couple of bars. I particularly like the bass in this piece, but it was not highlighted enough, surely by the placement of the mic. I think you are ready to add some embellishments notes.

[jazzyprof]

Rafant, thanks a lot for your comments and suggestions.  Yes, I was a little hesitant at first (all that adrenalin!) so the beginning was shaky.  I think I can also go a little faster now that I have the notes well under my fingers.  As for the understated bass, I experimented with mic placement and found the "sweetest" sound with the mic near the treble end.  I think I'll invest in a second mic at the bass end and record in stereo.

Regarding embellishments, my score doesn't have anyway and I'm not quite sure where to add them in a tasteful manner.  Any suggestions would be much appreciated.  Thanks again.

[Rafant]

Well, I don't have my scores here, but it's possible to find one with embellishments in a  free sheet music site. An alternative is to imitate the embellishments heard in a recording which you like of.