Recording of my Sauter Delta after the second tuning (Liszt's Consolation no. 3)

[wzkit]

Some of you who participated in the "Indentify the Piano" thread over at Pianoworld may recall that I had posted a recording of my Delta (Liszt's Consolation no. 3) for that little exercise. Well, my Delta just had its second tuning, and for that, I requested that my technician aim for a rounder, mellower, fatter, though somewhat less clear tone. I had specifically asked him for more depth in the bass as well. The first tuning was meant to emphasise the clarity of the tone more than anything else.

Well, all I can say is that my technician Alvin is just amazing. Without any voicing at all, I found the tonal difference quite amazing between tunings. When the piano first arrived, its distinctive feature was its sparkling, clear, if somewhat delicate tone. It sounds quite the opposite to my ears now. Much rounder, fatter sound, though still capable of subtlety when required.

I just thought I would share some recordings made of the same piece (Liszt's Consolation no. 3) on three different occassions, to demonstrate what a difference in tuning tempraments and/or humidity levels can make to the tone, without any voicing.

1st recording: Here is the Delta as it sounds after the second tuning. Temperature at 21 deg Celsius, and 65% RH

https://www.savefile.com/files/126107

2nd recording: For comparison, this is the recording that was used in the "Indentify the Piano" exercise. This was somewhat a couple of weeks after the first tuning, but after I had forgot to turn on the dehumidifier and air-con. The result was that the RH rose to around 68-69%, from the usual 65%, and the tone became more mellow.

https://www.savefile.com/files/126475

3rd recording: This was done just right after the first tuning, with the RH at 65%, and 21 deg Celsius. The tone is clear, though somewhat thin in the treble.

https://www.savefile.com/files/126485

The piano, location and the recording equipment used is the same in each case, so this is about as perfect an "experimental set up" can be.

Do tell me if you can hear a difference, or if I'm just imagining things

[didier_brest]

I listen to the first and to the third recordings. There is a clear difference, well corresponding to what you requested from your technician. I prefer the first one. Great piano anyway. And very nice interpretation. What is your recording hardware ?

Didier

[wzkit]

My recording set up is as follows:
TASCAM DAT recorder
2 x AKG 451s placed about 2-3m from the piano, near the ceiling (to capture ambience and bass)
2 x AKG 4000s placed near grand piano rim (treble and bass), around 40cm above the strings
a Mackie mixer.

The piano was in my bedroom, which is roughly 10 x 10 feet x 10 feet. Incredibly small, but fortunately it doesn't sound too loud because of some acoustic panelling.

I transferred directly from DAT to my PC as a Wav file, using RCA cables. My sound card is a Soundblaster Extigy, and the software I used for the transfer is Creative Wavestudio. No post recording editing was used in this particular recording.

Glad you liked the music and the piano tone.