It was great to see that a demonstration of an unequal temperament was on the agenda at the Convention and it was disappointing not to have been able to be there.
However, a good idea of tunings can be obtained with good recordings even though direct experience is of course better.
I'm preparing for a concert in Sussex UK on Saturday and with the pianist we did a test recording with two different microphone setups and the tuning comes through rather nicely, although the instrument was tuned for a concert a month ago and not especially for the recording -
Analogue vs digital recording - AKG D224 mic vs Ribbon - Chopin & Liszt Piano unequal temperament
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| Analogue vs digital recording - AKG D224 mic vs Ribbon - Chopin & Liszt Piano unequal temperament |
| People say analogue's better than digital so we put a Revox A77 at 7 1/2 inches per second to the test against a standard 16bit digital recording using a pair of vintage AKG D224 microphones and a stereo Blumlein ribbon mic upgraded with 1.2 micron ribbons. Which do you prefer? |
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might be of interest.
Two other recordings might be interesting - one with violin
Testing Oktava MD186 microphone with violin
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| Testing Oktava MD186 microphone with violin |
| The Oktava MD186 was a copy of the AKG D224 but have variations here with a warmer sound for violin. |
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and the other
Steinway B in unequal temperament - experimental concert at London Marylebone Theatre
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| Steinway B in unequal temperament - experimental concert at London Marylebone Theatre |
| Trial of unequal temperament at a concert venue in London with a Steinway Model B |
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at a London concert hall with a Steinway B. This was recorded with a small digital recorder at the back of the theatre demonstrating how the resonance of the tuning enables the instrument to project.
The ubiquity of equal temperament is unnecessary - and of course I've mentioned before that because
- I refuse to tune equal temperament
- I tune for good reasons by machine
any tuner like myself is ineligible for PTG accreditation but the recordings are testament to the musical value that such tuning brings.
Greetings from England and best wishes
David P
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David Pinnegar BSc ARCS
Hammerwood Park, East Grinstead, Sussex, UK
+44 1342 850594
"High Definition" Tuning
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