While recording a real piano is ideal, it can also be difficult and costly to get it to sound great. For this reason, many producers find it’s much more practical and economical to use sampled pianos. Thanks to some really great products that have come out in recent years, they don’t have to sacrifice a great sound in doing so.
Here’s part one of our two-part short list of some of the best sounding piano samples you can buy today.
Galaxy Instruments Vintage D
Recorded on a 1920’s Steinway D in Germany’s famous Bauer Studios the Galaxy Vintage D has warmth, depth and clarity from being recorded on a Neve console with a combination of modern and vintage tube microphones. The result is an accurate and natural tone. For Jazz and solo piano pieces, it’s impossible to beat Galaxy’s classic and beautiful sound.
Native Instruments Alicia’s Keys
Modeled after Alicia Keys’ Yamaha C3 Neo, the NI Alicia’s Keys is probably the most popular piano sample for pop music. She even used it instead of her own C3 from which it’s modeled to record her album The Element of Freedom. On it’s own It sounds present, rich and slightly dark. But it’s easy to tweak it to your needs and still get a great sound.
SoundIron Emotional Piano
Rather than the normal approach of making a piano that sounds as realistic as possible, SoundIron set out to create one that’s the “softest, deepest, most resonant, rich, lush, warm and truly soulful sound we could imagine in a grand piano.” The result is Emotional Piano and it’s powerful. If you create film scores and want a sensitive, moving piano , this is one killer virtual instrument to have in your arsenal.
Synthogy Ivory II American Concert D
Recorded on a 1951 New York Steinway D, Synthogy’s Ivory II American Concert D is a masterpiece in piano virtual instruments. It has the pure and rich tone that’s legendary to Steinway pianos. Though its a bit more academic and clinical sounding than the Galaxy Vintage D, for classical or solo piano you will find no better than American Concert D. If you’re going to stick it somewhere in the mix of your country song, get something else. But if you’re producing serious piano compositions, this an excellent option.
In our next post, we'll look at four more great virtual pianos. Check back soon!
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
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2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
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3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
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4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
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5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
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7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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