How to mix soft pianos
They just don’t cut, do they?
I bet you felt this way a couple of times when working with soft pianos - sampled or not. I know, I’ve been there. On one hand, we shouldn’t be surprised - they’re called soft, after all - but there must be a way to make them fit into your next track, right?
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re responsible for more than just a mix of the song. And you know what? This is good news. It means you’ve got the power to make things work without relying on post-production choices.
When recording Lekko, I placed a thin layer of cotton between the hammers and strings to get a warm sound. A benefit of using this material instead of felt was that cotton wasn’t as muffled.
WHY IS IT HARD TO MIX FELT PIANOS?
The moment you put the felt on a piano, a couple of things happen: it becomes quieter, you can't play it expressively anymore, and the top end becomes muffled. Sounds like the perfect candidate to cut through a busy mix, right? Well, not exactly.
Sounds cut because they're loud, transient-heavy, or bright. We just threw all of these attributes out the window when we put the felt on.
Another downside is that since you're reducing the instrument's volume a lot, you need to crank up your preamps, which boosts the noise floor. It's even more significant with samples because when you play a chord, you get the noise floor multiplied by the number of notes you just hit.
Now, let's get to work, shall we?
Below, you'll find five production techniques I find helpful when fitting intimate piano sounds into the mix.
1. aRRANGING IS MIXING
Do you know why tracks with felted pianos often sound muddy? It’s because most of the other instruments occupy the same frequency range. Knowing that a felted piano will naturally have a problem cutting through the rest of the arrangement, you can build the arrangement so that the piano is left with some space to breathe, allowing it to shine through.
Here’s a little example - a track by one of my favorite artists, Nils Frahm:
It’s a stunning piece, but what I love about it mix-wise is that all parts interplay without cluttering each other. The viola flageolets occupy the high end. The sub-bass takes care of the - well - low end. The piano is left with plenty of space to work in the midrange.
An interesting thing happens when a mournful cello line enters around 2:47. Although it occupies a similar frequency range as the piano, it retains its space in the mix.
The reason for that is simple: it’s louder and plays more extended notes, while the piano - by its nature - is more transient-heavy.
I think it’s the perfect example of using arrangement as a part of the mixing process. It takes the things we love about felt pianos and weaves everything else around that with care, leaving the piano a nice space so it doesn’t need to compete with other elements.
Consider this: why should you fight the natural qualities of a felt piano? After all - this is the reason you love that sound so much.
TIP: Love the sound of this track? So do I! The strings you just heard were a huge inspiration for the Flageolet Sustains patch in Blisko, while the sub influenced me when I was working on my bass plugin, Nisko.
2. MAKE OTHER THINGS CUT
But what if you want the piano to occupy the same space as the other instruments? You want nice, low, moody piano chords, but also love a sound of a nice 909 type drum machine and vintage synths?
A nice example of this approach is this track by Kiasmos, a duo of Janus Rasmussen and Ólafur Arnalds:
Whether you’re listening on big studio monitors or just your laptop speakers, it should be clear that the piano occupies the same space as the drums and other elements of the mix.
In a situation like this, an excellent approach is to ensure that the other elements of the track possess the cutting qualities we discussed earlier—transients, high end, and loudness.
After all, mixing is a two-way street; some elements need to stand out. Otherwise, we’re back into the mud. If we can’t get the piano to cut through, maybe the other instruments can cut through the chords instead?
Listen to this track with focus, and I’m sure you’ll notice how bright the drums are. Even the kick has an extended top end. The same applies to the bottom - it’s heavy, thumping, and just plain big. None of this can be said about the subdued piano chords.
And it’s a good thing. If all elements were as exposed as the drums, focus would be lost.
Applying compression, boosting the top end and enchancing the transients on elements other than the piano itself will bring clarity to your mix, without feeling like you’re competing with the natural qualities of the instrument, or making the noise floor explode.
By the way - here’s a deep-dive into how the Kiasmos track was made if you’re interested:
3. EASE ON THE REVERB (THE OTHER ONE, TOO)
Don’t get me wrong - I love reverb! The problem is that using too much of it will clutter your mix - your felted piano is all about the midrange, as are other elements of your mix. Including the reverb tails.
While it’s easy to back off a bit with your reverb’s decay setting or the dry/wet relation, this tip is as much about mixing as it is about performing.
You see, all pianos have an excellent reverberation device built in. It’s the harp of the piano and the resonant board behind it. And the moment you press the sustain pedal, you send your sound to that reverb device.
Don’t take my word for it - close your eyes, play your piano (sampled or real, should be the same), and at some point, slowly engage the sustain pedal—Reverb on.
What is the easiest way to declutter a busy part of your mix? Release the pedal.
If you’re using a sampled piano, maybe it has an envelope release knob on the interface? If it does, chances are you can automate it. Consider using this feature to extend and decrease the decay time of the notes instead of going for the pedal every single time. Your mix will thank you.
The piano I recorded for Bardzo has a unique mechanical construction - the resonant board is not present, which means that the tone is clear even when the sustain pedal is pressed.
4. MAKE ROOM FOR IT
Sometimes, things can’t be fixed during production, and you must solve the clutter with mixed tools. There are two plugins I like for such situations. They’re not magic tools as problems are best solved during production, but if you don’t have such a luxury, they can be helpful to solve your mix issues:
This is Trackspacer by Wavesfactory. If you’re familiar with sidechain compression, you’ll find the concept easy to understand: you take one signal and use it to duck the volume of another track.
The difference is, however, that Trackspacer does this by applying the ducking only to the frequencies that collide between two tracks. Essentially, it will analize the frequencies of your piano track in real-time, and remove them from whatever you put the plugin on.
As with most plugins, it sounds best when used subtly - too much of it, and suddenly the wholes you’ve just cut get a little too big, and some magic is lost.
The second plugin is SplitEQ by Eventide. It allows you to EQ the sound's transient and sustain separately. For example, you can boost the top end of the piano's transients and take it down as it sustains.
What's very nice about this approach is that it enhances the piano's cutting qualities without boosting the noise on the sustains.
5. A MOMENT OF TRUTH
At some point, it’s worth asking yourself the big question: is a felted piano what you want for this situation?
There may be some qualities of its sound that you enjoy (the fragility of it or that subtle tsss noise when a hammer touches the felt, for example) that other pianos exhibit without the drawbacks.
If you’ve decided to take the felt route, I hope the tips above will help you make your mixes clearer and more fun.
Suppose you decide to explore other options. In that case, I highly recommend checking out Bardzo. It’s a grand piano with a unique mechanical construction that gives you a lot of the mechanical noises of a felted piano but with a bolder, clearer tone that makes it easier to cut through the arrangement.
Another nice alternative is the Una Corda by Native Instruments. Its construction is similar to the piano I sampled for Bardzo, but it’s simpler and less vibey, which might be what you’re looking for.
This is not to say that writing a track around a soft piano is asking for trouble - it just comes with certain limitations. However, limitations can be as inspiring as possibilities.
All in all, using felted pianos is a sound you need to commit to early on. This might feel like returning to square one, but it isn’t: you’ve made a musical decision. Now, you just need to make it work.
PLUGINS MENTIONED IN THIS post
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