Making MIDI Piano Sound REALISTIC!

[@csharpminorflat5]

A little tip from pianist fella here: when you need to depress/release the sustain pedal for a chord change, depress it a little bit after the chord change and *not* before the chord change. Why's that is because: 1. That's how pianist have been thought to use the sustain pedal; 2. So the first chord wouldn't abruptly stop, that makes it sound clunky (and basically a bad way to use the sustain pedal as a pianist). It needs to flow to the next chord before it can stop, just a tiny bit, I'm saying like maybe an 1/8th-1/16th of a fraction of a beat.

[@jsw2525]

I’ve been home recording since the early 70’s, ping-ponging two open reel decks, and this channel has been the most helpful of ALL the dozens and dozens I have viewed. I’m now and enthusiastic subscriber!

[@mehraan6327]

How old are you?

[@whitneynikkiwickham]

I only just switched to Logic and was SO HAPPY to find my electric piano registers ALL of my pedals and also does real time notation where I could adjust notes if I have a finger fumble which is more often than I like to admit. I legit sobbed of happiness from these two small details and I appreciate the sustain pedal was your first tip!

[@miasitova4941]

This is by far the most straightforward and extremely helpful tutorial! THank you...

[@nickvieru8969]

The Sustain pedal tip is indeed an amazing one! I got an E-piano and was playing chords and melodies often with the sustain always on and was wondering why it sounded so muffled all the time, and when you said "the sustain should end before the other chord starts" that made so much sense. For both playing an actual live instrument or for programming MIDI. Thanks Nathan!

[@stephanelarocque77]

You forget another important thing. It sound fake when all notes are perfectly quantized. So you must randomize quantization so the notes wont play all exactly at the same time.

[@gmichaelhall]

Absolutely turn quantise off with piano. Any attempt to salvage a quantised piano is just putting lipstick on a pig. 2nd suggestion would be to never ever strap stereo reverb across a piano and call it a sound, Aux send and pan it out of the middle. If you still want to soften attack, add a smallish room to piano channel and set the the wet dry pretty dry, if you can hear the room verb, it's too loud, it should be felt not heard. This very basic video nails the sustain pedal technique for those not playing the pedal in, but really the most important thing is to be able to play it in and leave the piano roll as unadulterated as possible. Piano is tough to get right and even the best can always be better in regards to midi. ✌️🎶🎶

[@danilomartinsrochamartinsr8435]

Thanks for the tip

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Uhhh not true. Totally depends on the genre and style you're going for. I perfectly quantize all the time. This is the thing a lot of people get wrong - timing is not what makes something sound fake... articulation, velocity, and other performances aspects do. This is why a drum production that is perfectly aligned to the grid (AKA, quantized) still sounds awesome as long as the original performance was awesome. Now - if you are composing more classical, Neo-Classical, LoFi, etc. then yes you are correct - that more "unedited" sound is good. But saying "you MUST randomize..." is very strong language.

[@fantabanta1150]

@@NathanJamesLarsen Think about it like this. It is physically impossible for a piano player to play multiple keys perfectly and precisely on the beat. Random quantization would definitely help ‘humanize’ a MIDI piano track, regardless of the genre of music. So I wouldn’t go to say that this comment is “not true”. Just my hot take 🤷‍♂️

[@tristonconrey557]

@Nathan James Larsen @Fanta Banta It really depends on what you are wanting. I wouldn't say that its not true all the time but it definitely is okay to quantize perfectly. When there is only piano and not a lot of other sound I usually won't quantize perfectly because you can tell (most people when they play the piano press either their middle finger or thumb first.) but as soon as drums or other insruments come in I like things to be quantized more perfectly.

[@mcd5778]

Peter Mckinnon's cousin who is a music producer!

[@kado641]

Are you for real because I believe it either way

[@nothrid]

😂 but seriously though...are you related to peter mckinnon?

[@DaYvesLaheij]

Waaa

[@Darkmage4]

100% what I was thinking. I just found this channel just now. lol. 100% Reminded me of PM. lol.

[@davidlall6386]

bruh...i literally believe u even tho i feel u kidding😩😂

[@THeDrKEvO]

I find reductive/subtractive EQ helps so much too, especially high cut, and some select mid-high frequencies pulled down can also feel more real and warm, I generally think midi pianos sound too artificially bright

[@amelaumusic]

Omg thanks so much! Now my piano plug-in sounds a lot better

[@serious_about_men]

You have... a lot of energy in this video

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Haha I thought I was quite mellow 😂😂 honestly just having fun with it tho

[@PTJ_S]

ikr

[@じょんたん-n9z]

0:39 default sound 2:19 sustain sound 3:49 sustain sound 2dots 5:39 velocity 8:27 reverb

[@Sudobeast]

thanks!

[@zx_fra]

Having a soundfont, like the result that you have got, is one of my biggest dream.

[@sondrestrmme4006]

Only thing I am a bit critical of here is stopping the pedal on the beat, when I play these types of progressions I usually drop the pedal the 16th before the beat and use the pedal on the beat

[@csharpminorflat5]

You should actually try depressing the pedal right after the beat/chord change, that's how I've been taught and use over the years of playing piano.

[@BambooOnFire]

Hard method for those without a piano: get a lot of public midis of jazz or classical songs. Open them in a DAW where you can clearly see the overall change in velocity. Study about 1000+ of those and you have a general idea where the stressed beat is and how to slightly tweak velocities for chords so it sounds more human. And no. Don't use this method because it will kill your last brain cells.

[@spartan456]

One protip regarding sustain: not ALL piano VSTs are simply "on" or "off" with the sustain. Certain ones out there support "half-pedaling", which is a feature on real acoustic pianos where the pedal can be very lightly applied to create a milder sustain effect. These are commonly paired with analog or continuous damper pedals so the feature can be used while playing live. If you aren't sure if your particular VST has this feature, dive into the settings and see if there's anything about half-pedal. If it supports half-pedal, then EVERY sustain value will be read, and a different sustain effect will be applied at every possible value above 0. Some piano VSTs also have half-pedaling on a different MIDI CC all together, but can usually be configured to use the default Sustain MIDI CC. Additionally, some really fancy piano VSTs even support re-pedaling, which is another feature of real acoustic pianos: re-pedaling allows a note to be sustained at any velocity, letting you "carry" it at that existing volume into the next phrase. For example, let's say you play an A at maximum velocity, hold the key, and it decays to half the amplitude half a second later. With no re-pedal support, sustaining at that exact moment will not work. The note will just not sustain. If your VST supports re-pedaling, you can pedal at that moment and the note will begin to sustain at that particular velocity. Very very handy feature. In the context of penciling in notes and using MIDI automation, you would give that particular note at that particular step a re-pedal instruction in addition to a default sustain one, and it will actually carry it over to the next phrase instead of leaving it high and dry.

[@Bruno-xx2km]

I have a keyboard with no touch sensitivity, can i use a software/plugin to bring it out

[@spartan456]

@@Bruno-xx2km No.

[@Bruno-xx2km]

@@spartan456 thanks.

[@oldensad5541]

Playing absolutely normal piano that sounds absolutely normal: Oh, that sounds terrible, right?

[@marylanka7792]

I needed this!! I recorded sections of piano accomp. like 4 times to get correct volume. And then sustained it with reverb and echo. Ah! See! The simple things! So helpful! Also the energy in this video...🥳

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Love it! 😎😎

[@michaelsorel4984]

Thanks Nathan! Velocity, oh yes! Just started doing Midi keys not so long ago and this was totaly missing. I had the reverb and the sustain, but not the velocity. So I re-worked my favorite midi track and now it's a totaly different track, with warmth and body. I guess I should have figured that out myself. I mean I don't play the guitar any different. Like... Duh. Na really, thanks.. great job putting that out there! Truly, Mick

[@OceanfireWorshipMusic]

Dude is a good teacher. Subscribed!

[@nilanshgaur]

Nathan...you are awesome! Was recording a cover with the “yamaha” piano 😂 when this video dropped. Was intuitively doing some of the things shown in the video. Amazing.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Love it! Thanks so much for checking it out!

[@FeCoNi_science]

Just recommended this video to a friend to help with pianos. One thing I'm missing in this is quantisation. Not just appropriate swing but that in a realistic performance, not all notes hit at the same time - this is particularly obvious when the overall velocity is low in a real performance. Just bumping each note in a chord across by a few ticks will smear the transients a bit and create a more realistic sound.

[@frednukes]

I was thinking the same thing :)

[@bassManDavis1953]

I don't have any native instruments, so have to rely on logic stock pianos, but man, what a fantastic piece of tuition! I can't believe how you made it sound so friggin great! So thanks Nathan for another exceptional video, seems I have quite a bit of work ahead of me now, re looking at all my piano tracks I've done, but it will be well worth it.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Plenty of good options out there you can look into - Spitfire LABS has their soft piano which sounds great. And yeah this is the tedious side of production but well worth it!

[@bassManDavis1953]

Nathan Larsen yea, I have that, really like LABs, absolute life savers, thanks Nathan, great to know that you recommend something I have, I may just be doing something right?😜😜😜😜😜

[@michaelkyle2150]

Love it, and like your presentation style. To the point but you got personality and are likeable. Look forward to seeing your other videos

[@Fiveash-Art]

Wow .. that stuff about the 'sustain pedal' I didn't have a clue about .. glad I found this.

[@jamesmazzo]

i love this mans energy

[@doorwaysintomusic]

This tutorial helped me so much. It turned my terrible sounding midi-piano accompaniment in the song I am working on into something quite nice and much closer to an actual piano sound. In a weird way I think it also helped my actual piano playing because as I was editing the velocity of all the midi notes it brought home just how important varied dynamics are. So thank you for an excellent video!

[@noamorlin1809]

Hi Nathan, Every time i watch you i get so inspired go make new beats. KEEP UP WITH WHAT YOURE DOING😄

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Love it!! 🙏🙏🙏😎😎😎😎

[@phillwheadon5940]

Thanks - I am a complete noob using LMMS and the piano notes and chords go: thunk! I know it must be sustain I need - back to finding it then. Great tips and demonstration.

[@vaporizejello]

Just found your channel. Been using GB and Logic forever, but am finally taking it more serious. Instant sub man.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Yooo! thanks a bunch! Happy to have ya

[@aw7223]

Today i googled how to make piano more realistic because I used a piano sample and it sounds so good. When i use my NI Pianos (all you mentioned but my go to is Alicia Keys) just does not sound as good. I think I am just one sustain automation away 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@filiphron3147]

Fast, simple, effective, true. Already knew those tricks, applicable to any DAW, thumb up.

[@fhynex4611]

Great tutorials bro! Lots of tips and tricks to get from your vids. Helps a lot ;)! Keep it coming bro!

[@kenrichard5]

Nice, basic fundamentals. Good tutorial

[@CirquedJoy]

Just a suggestion, it might also help to duplicate the track, and pan one all the way to the left and the other all the way to the right, because if you were to record an acoustic piano, you would use at least two mics, and they would be panned left and right.

[@pynkhar3906]

Thanku buddy keep doing this goodwork

[@m4thy5]

thank you for this tutorial, I didnt even realize that my chords where bleeding over each other

[@keva.3856]

What's the actual software you use to record your midi piano playing? thx!

[@masyrafnukman3932]

I wish you continued success in the field of music and youtube

[@hztan1263]

simple, easy to follow and undetstand, great vid Nathan :)

[@KurtSchwind]

Love the tips I pick up here. Keep up the great vids.

[@lunaasteri]

U so underrated 😭❤️

[@serious_about_men]

Facts

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Thank you! We are growing and I'll keep working hard to grow it more! This is just the start!

[@HealthyBodyForLife]

One other thing that makes your piano sound realistic is that they're not perfectly on the grid! When you play vs. drawing the notes in, no player plays the chords perfectly on the beat every time, which gives it a beautiful human imperfection. A way you can do this if you don't play though is by going to functions>midi transform>humanize, select thru for all the options besides "position" and voila, your notes are slightly off grid! This can be used for velocities and note length as well :) Great video Nathan!

[@aw7223]

Do you leave at the standard setting?

[@HealthyBodyForLife]

@@aw7223 Can mess around wih them a bit to find the humanized texture you like

[@tomfromwinchell]

So Nathan, how much coffee would you like? Nathan: Yes.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Bahaha this is hilarious. I do believe I had a shot of espresso before this LOL

[@kalelisuperman]

NEW NATHAN LARSEN VIDEO?!? LETTTSSS GOOOO!!!

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

YA Boiiiiiiii!!!

[@jukkaritola7287]

Thanks for sustain. Couldnt figure it out how it works.. 👍🏻

[@RitinSamuelTV]

very useful! Thanks!! :)

[@Hinge45]

tysm. my piano sounds so much better now.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

That's awesome! So happy to hear that!

[@Hinge45]

@@NathanJamesLarsen as someone who knows vst far before actually learning music. I believe you can make the chords softer with a slight humanization. maybe about 10 ms of imperfections is good. It depends on the style and taste tho.

[@energeticstunts993]

Hey people, I always wanted guitar in my beats, and I always tried to do it midi, piano was not a problem since I am a pianist but my guitars always sounded fake no matter the plugins or how much I tried with the midi. I got a guitar and learned it and I realized the richness of the guitar cannot ever be fully captured using stock plugins, same goes for the piano, it's a good idea to learn it ;)

[@divyanshusahu2211]

Peter McKinnon of music industry

[@deandre9132]

Could you make a video on how to make midi guitar melodies sound good?

[@Orwaha]

Dope tutorial. Thanks man. Any recommendation as to which stock plug-in reverb works best and which settings to tweak? Threw me in for a loop when you pulled out the EastWest Reverb lol

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Yo yo yo! Check out our 14-Day Music Producer course where I cover production start to finish: 14daymusicproducer.com

[@SIVABALAN.V.S]

It just verifying my email only. And showing successfully purchased. There is no link for your video course. What happened......

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

@@SIVABALAN.V.S Just sent you an email with a link to the course! Sorry it wasn't smooth - working to get it fixed right now.

[@Moules-frites]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/Zom1fWmJbNalrpo

[@isaacsailo]

Is the link not active anymore for the free session breakdown???

[@deoneilmejia5465]

Thanks for the video man.

Definetely helped. I'll put it to practice right now. Thank you!

[@igrieger]

Great class, man! Thanks a bunch! I just subscribed.

[@masyrafnukman3932]

I wish you continued success in the field of music and youtube thank you

There is also a humanize option for velocity :)

[@vontyger6759]

Love this video!

[@kaiulrich6185]

I figured pretty early on that I can program any keyboard sound...but not the piano. At the end of the day the best way for me was learning the part and record it, even one hand at the time. And then you can fix little issues in your piano roll. Nothing else ever worked for me.

[@rodneywood3399]

I have been trying traction waveform. Do you know of a way to do that in that program

[@franksilval]

Very valuable video....!!!!....Thank you Nathan !!!!!

[@AnuGunn]

Another excellent video. Never knew about the sustain feature.

[@shotsi673]

I recently bought Modartt's Pianoteq. Very good sounding pianos.

[@noamorlin1809]

How much, PRICE?

[@dillonpillay106]

Thanks Nate for the tutorial..sustain, velocity and reverb ...too make cheap midi piano sound decent

[@musicjazzvez]

Thank you for sharing. Good advice!

[@TallulahUpshall]

Thank you for making a super helpful video!

[@andremourapassos]

It's so simple and helped me a lot, thanks!!

[@yramhossoo8586]

You need to do one for Fender Rhodes plugin fans too. Yah?

[@dubsbarry9963]

this was more about how to play piano better. all important info. but based on title I was expecting more about compression, soft distortion, delay, exciter, etc. looking more for great sounding piano plugins or modding the stock logic sounds. burnt out on the stock logic piano sounds and tired of having to learn all the different sources (sampler, alchemy, retro, etc)

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

I mean, if you don't do the things I show in this video then hate to say it but no compression hack is gonna help... this is kind of one of those things where often the thing that makes the biggest difference isn't the thing you wanted it to be - but that doesn't change what it actually is

[@LairdDixon]

You're great. Thanks!

[@marcato5732]

Thanks for the tips!

[@lounote1]

Great stuff. I’ve been playing piano a ton in the last couple years. The digital piano sound on my keyboard is not great, so I have been running through an audio interface to the Mac in Garage Band. That helps, but it was still artificial sounding. Recently moved up to MainStage. A little better. Moving to Logic seems like a good place to start. This video will certainly help get closer. Curious if there are any settings within the piano sound itself, beyond sustain and velocity, which are more performance based. I would love to see what you do inside the factory sound settings. Thanks!!!

[@8khdrsoothingrelaxation276]

Hi Nathan. I am trying editing existing piano, guitar and flute music. My goal is to make this music softER and smoothER, in order to help listeners to fall asleep. Could you please suggest a kind of "universal" plug-ins which would make the above-mentioned instruments sound softer and smoother? I am using Logic Pro X.

[@anka7597]

Wow, very impressing. Thank you for sharing!

[@mihir1425]

thank you ❤️ video was helpful ❤️

[@imsachalevyofficial]

Okay now i love you

[@mihirdas9747]

Thank You 💖

[@avtuh-com]

You are right. Human velocity always!!! different.

[@matsnyberg8127]

Is that "Say Something" (A Great Big World)?

[@ThatJay283]

What if the audio piano sample isn't of the best quality? Like if it cuts off, and sustain doesn't fix that?

[@ryde2012]

I thought that’s how pianos genuinely sound

[@Marie-ft6sd]

Thank You, very helpfull !!

[@Hyggestudiet]

Love it .

[@jackp2088]

this is amazing

[@agatone7244]

I were about to recommend Hammersmith Free from Sonicculture as it a amazing sample library for Kontakt 6 player, but sadly it’s not available anymore

[@orlamadden8305]

your problems dragging the sustain pumps to zero spoke to me

[@musahsn8021]

since you have presonus eris monitors, do you recommend the Eris E3.5 for home studio and small room? + your content is veryyy useful and fun to watch🌷🌷

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

I haven't tried them but I've really enjoyed the E5's so I'd bet the 3.5s are also good!

[@mr.shredder5430]

Great tutorial👍

[@mihir1425]

THANK YOU SO MUCH ❤️

[@derekmidgley]

Heck that bar jumps up at me too and makes it hard to get zero. Think I must change the tool bar to side of screen :-)

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Haha!! This is why I just play the piano in LOL 😂 just kidding

[@justindiplomats1017]

coming from fl studios i can tel u that this stock piano is beutiful against fls stock piano

[@rajeshmasih9159]

Name the best piano plugin for authentic piano sound.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Totally depends on the sound you like - I like The Grandeur, Noire, and The Giant from Native Instruments but Hammers + Waves is awesome. It's more than just piano sounds though - also has tons of other stuff

[@SimonFlames]

Great video again Nathan! On the velocities for the chords, do you recommend having all notes in the same chord play be the same velocity or have a minor tweak between each voicing, like 70/72/73?

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Top note is usually gonna be a bit louder than the bottom two but it also depends on if you want to "pull out" other notes in the chord so they are louder. Example being if you have a Sus chord you might want the sus4 to be a bit louder to bring it out more

[@SimonFlames]

@@NathanJamesLarsen thanks for the reply! I’ll experiment with it in my next session 💪🏻

[@jaredgabel]

What’s up Nathan! I am just now getting the hang of midi (late to the party I know). I have a Nord electro 3 61 key, Other than it not being weighted, is there any reason to invest in something like you use specifically for midi control.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Hey! So I use the Native Instruments Kontrol S88 - it's top of the line in terms of feel which is really important for me as a really picky pianist. I wanted the most realistic feel as possible. Also it integrates amazingly with NI software with the NKS integration which is a game changer if you use their software - I use a TON of their stuff.

[@honeypie6338]

I would like to add The Grandeur to the list of excellent NI pianos :D

[@sa-le4mj]

Is there a way to do something like this in Fl Studio?

[@MedeaGR]

You are great! Thank you! I am watching your videos and help me a lot. I am new in Logic and I have problems to load EW QL pianos in Logic. I do not know why is doing this. Do you have any idea? Thank you in advance for everything ! Greetings from Athens Greece!

[@dougcallaghan6075]

Hey Nathan, thanks for the suggestions. Could you explain what you mean by putting octaves on the bass? I have an instrumental piece that uses a lot of 7th chords. Key is C (C2). If I copy that chord and move it down an octave (root note at C1), it sounds terrible if you play both versions of the chord simultaneously. Are you just adding select bass notes to fatten up the bottom end? Thanks.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Just the root of the chord is an octave in the bass. If you start adding lower octaves with other notes of the chord then, yes, it'll sound terrible haha!

[@dougcallaghan6075]

@@NathanJamesLarsen Thanks.

[@xp50player]

@@NathanJamesLarsen - substituting other voices of the chord as bass notes would be an inversion🤷🏻‍♂️.

[@VinFurr]

sad it is only for mac only. i have been looking for a good and easy midi software. it does at least look realy easy in this video

[@GPM80]

Excellent video again nathan. Have tried to sign up for the course but the page seems to keep freezing??

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

That's not good... freezing before or after signing up?

[@GPM80]

@@NathanJamesLarsen as i type in my name and email it just goes to load and freezes........any ideas?

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

@@GPM80 Shoot, so sorry Glyn. I just made some changes, can you let me know if it's working now? If not, I'll get my support on it to figure out what's going on.

[@GPM80]

@@NathanJamesLarsen just tried again. Says successfully purchased but havent recieved any email

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

It sometimes takes 10 min or so to send. If you don't get it let me know and I can have it resent. I can send it to your email at that point

[@patzimmusic]

Sustain can actually kill your tone a bit even if you’re not playing staccato. The more different notes sustaining the less clear the notes you are playing will sound

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

I'm not saying always use sustain lol. But as a pianist for over 20 years - Yes it can muddy things if you're not appropriately releasing but that's what you're ears are for to help guide those decisions. If you play two separate chords and don't pump the pedal and overlap - then yeah it won't sound good.