May be a tad off topic but what's the piano used in American Beauty's Theme?

M

Michael Bay

Member
I have been looking for this piano forever. I can't seem to find any even close to it. I've tried all kinds with all different effects added to them and I can't get the sound. The closest I've come is with the Yamaha Grand but it still isn't that close. Anyone know?
 
I don't know the piano, but I've mic'ed pianos before and there's a lot of different ways to do it that'll hugely affect the sound quality. The room as well.

How much have you played around with those aspects?
 
Gohanto said:
I don't know the piano, but I've mic'ed pianos before and there's a lot of different ways to do it that'll hugely affect the sound quality. The room as well.

How much have you played around with those aspects?
Click to expand...
I've tried some but mostly focused on different reverbs and wetness which don't seem to be working.
 
I don't know everything that you've tried, but there is an additional, faintly heard part an octave above which is very present in the reverb but not in the main mix, hard to tell if its another piano part or a synth/electronic piano of some kind. There is also, again faintly heard, what is probably a Rhodes recreation or something similar - played in unison with the main piano. It also sounds like they were each performed rather than being MIDI clone parts.

It's not just the piano part/sound itself, it's the way it interacts with all of the parts in the mix.
 
Keep in mind to get this sound the keys need to be hit softly, so low velocities on every note, combine that with some reverb and a nice grand piano and you can get this sound. And of course as Bob said, it's the way it interacts with those lush synth parts, which are very complimentary to the piano, making it feel like it's all one, making it feel like there's this big wide open lush space.
 
I hear: the piano has the pedal down, there's a delay on the piano maybe a half second, that delayed part has a lot of reverb (Less than the main piano up front), there are secondary, slow attack sounds that swell (probably triggered by the main part).

Then there's the high drone, and the low bass - and some strings coming in and out.

Kind of hard to tell listening on youtube..
 
don't beat yourself up trying to replicate 100s of hours of studio work on such a simple piano riff. just do the best you can. a creative ear can fool(entertain) people all the time.
 
Last edited:
I know but I want that exact sounding piano. I have all the strings, percussion, and brass I could ever need but I have very little piano sounds.
 
Michael Bay said:
I know but I want that exact sounding piano. I have all the strings, percussion, and brass I could ever need but I have very little piano sounds.
Click to expand...

I don't recall the specific sound you're referring to, but assuming it's a real piano recording rather than a preset from a sample library (which of course it may be - dunno) it's important to remember that things like 'piano sounds' aren't commodities. They're not canned, or can-able, and you can't just find out 'which one it is' and 'get it', like a pair of sneakers.

I have a grand piano in my recording studio that has been used in any number of feature films, but if you wanted that specific sound in *your* movie, there'd be nowhere to find it. That is, unless you hired the original pianist, came here, we listened to the original sound, I recalled what I did in recording and processing it, the pianist remembered how he played it, and the composition was very similar. Change any one of those variables by much, and you'd have a different sound. I also have numerous good piano samples in a dozen or so midi instruments and sound libraries. None of them sound like my piano, and none of them sound like each other.

IMPO, the best you'll do is an approximation of the effect you're looking for, unless again, the original piano came from a sample you can identify. Then you'd only be looking at replicating whatever processing may have been applied, which, depending on the nature of it and how much, may well require a high level of audio expertise.

If the solution is giving you enough difficulty, you might try enlisting the help of a professional music recording engineer to analyze what the timbre contains and imitate it with available pianos or samples and processing. This is something I'm asked to do fairly often.

But I'm pretty expensive...
 
I'm a little confused. I've searched and assume you mean American Beauty by Thomas Newman, on the American Beauty Album (Spotify is a great tool).

If this is the sound you want to emulate then you need a real piano. It appears to be a combination of close miked grand piano - probably NOT a concert grand - something around a yamaha C3 size, but it doesn't sound Yamaha to me. It has a really nice reverb applied. It's probably not real reverbm because the initial delay isn't long enough for it to be a really large building that the reveb sounds like. The reverb also seems to be lacking any established HF.

If you are trying to get this sound from a software synth, I doubt you'll be that successful. The Steinberg grand can do something similar, but source instrument doesn't have a really soft played version. The old Gem Stage piano has a soft piano, but it's too dull. There's nothing similar in any of my Yamaha or Roland synths/samplers. Some come close-ish, but not close enough.

Those synths that have control over played velocity mapped to output velocity are best able to handle quiet playing, but if it's important, I'd find a real one and record that using close mic techniques and then treat it to a decent reverb.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top