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Topics - mark_a_williamson

1
General Discussion / How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?
For some time now I've been using NWC to make CDs for my wife to use to accompany the congregational singing at a small ladies' fellowship group she runs.  The music is often hymns and nearly always an SATB arrangement.

I enter the notes in NWC 2.1 (I've recently upgraded from version 1.75) using the Acoustic Grand Piano as the instrument.  I export the file as midi before using "Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter" by Pistonsoft to convert the midi file to an mp3 file.  Finally I open the mp3s in MS Windows Media Player & burn them to an audio CD.

The problem I'm having is that the music sounds rather "clunky" & I'm wanting to produce something that sounds less mechanical & more hand played.  I've experimented with a few things as can be seen in the attached file.

1  Raw SATB  - copied straight from the hymn book
2  Slurs - this is a waste of time as they have no effect on the midi (or mp3) file
3  Extended (tied) Hamony & Bass Notes - this gives some improvement
4  Additional Long Bass - this gives a slight improvement
5  Sustain Pedal - this gives a slight improvement
6  Harmony Notes Offset & Extended Bass - this is the best I've come up with to date
7  "Legato" Performance Style - this gives a slight improvement

I'm hoping that someone can make some other helpful suggestions.  I really don't want to have to sit down & write new arrangements from scratch.  

Once I get this "clunky" issue I'll add dynamics which I'm sure will also improve the sound of the final "product".