Midnight Upright

Midnight Upright is an untuned family upright recorded by Alex of Nami Audio. A blanket was placed between the hammers and strings, and two Neumann KM184 microphones captured it. There are three dynamic layers, release samples and pedal noise. A second texture layer comes from the same piano recordings, run through a cassette four-track and a small mixer. The sound is fragile and slightly unsteady, with a soft haze behind it. It suits late-night, lonely and dreamlike scenes. Because the piano was never tuned, the pitch wanders a little. It is not a clean, dry piano, so it suits mood more than realism.