The course
Cinematic Piano Course
A beautiful piano sound is just the beginning. Learn to write, arrange and finish emotional piano music for trailers, adverts and television.
View the course →Winter Piano
A free felt piano from Christian Henson (Pianobook), played in Decent Sampler.
Winter Piano was Christian Henson's first pack for Pianobook. He sampled it with a deliberately simple method, shown in a short video about sampling a piano in just over two minutes. Pianobook files it under felt and upright pianos. Henson says it cuts through dialogue well, and users describe it as intense and suited to cinematic writing. That makes it a practical choice for drama and documentary scenes where music sits under speech. The quick recording approach means it is less detailed than a fully produced library. Pianobook gives no detail on dynamic layers or microphones. A free Pianobook account is needed to download it.
Worth knowing: You need a free Pianobook account to download it. The Kontakt version may not run in the free Kontakt Player, so use the Decent Sampler version.
Get Winter Piano from Christian Henson (Pianobook) →More free felt pianos
- Writing for trailers, adverts and TV
- Arpeggio patterns that make plain chords cinematic
- Making MIDI piano sound played
- Light orchestration with strings
- A quick mix and master for each track