Palm Mute Piano

Paper Stone Instruments is a new Kontakt Library development company formed by the team at Paper Stone Recording Studios in Nottingham, UK. Our mission is to create instruments that we, as producers and musicians, need for our own work. For this reason, we will always strive to create the best instruments that we can. We use the finest equipment we have at our disposal and use various microphone positions that can be blended together on the Kontakt interface so the sound can be adjusted to suit your needs. Our studio is situated in an old converted cinema with superb acoustics.

Our first instrument is the Palm Mute Piano for Kontakt V4.2.3 or above.

Palm Mute Piano

The Palm Mute Piano is a 2.6GB 64 note Kontakt instrument. Each note of our PaperStone Grand Piano has been meticulously sampled using finger dampening, resulting in a unique cinematic tone. The PaperStone house piano is a Danemann Grand Piano 6'8"; Mahogany c1960, chosen for it's rich character and mellow tone. Perfect for cinematic and jazz music.

It has been sampled in short (staccato) long (sustain) and pedalled articulations at 3 velocity levels, with 5 microphones: Close (mono) Stereo and Room.

What is Palm Muting?

Palm muting is achieved by simply placing a finger (or palm) on the string of the piano while striking the key. Similar to the muted tone of more common palm muting techniques on guitar and bass - it gives a great stealthy dampened tone.

Features:

• 4 Patches in NKI format.
• 1737 stereo samples recorded at 24-bit 44.1 kHz.
• Original user interface and advanced custom scripting engine.
• PMP Full.nki (Complete with all articulations and dynamic keyswitching).
• PMP Staccato.nki (Lighter version with just the Staccato articulation loaded).
• PMP Pedalled.nki (Lighter version with just the Pedalled articulation loaded).
• PMP Sustain.nki (Lighter version with just the Sustain articulation loaded).

What Recording Equipment did we use?

We carried out extensive microphone shoot outs to ascertain the correct microphone, pre-amp, and positioning. We used the most effective resulting combinations, which were as follows:

• Close - C414 B-ULS, API 3124MB preamp, Prism converters.
• Stereo - Neumann KM184 pair, Focusrite ISA preamp, Prism converters.
• Room - Pair of Neumann U87 AI, API 3142MB preamp, Prism converters.

What Makes the Recording Space so Special?

Studio 2 is a converted cinema auditorium dating back to 1914. It's floor space is large at around 1400 Sq. foot.

The incredible acoustics of the room are down to 3 factors:

• An arched ceiling, which acts to reduce standing waves.
• A false floor covering the old staggered seating platforms, acts as a bass trap.
• Engineered Acoustic treatment, in the form of rock wool screens and baffles.

Testimonials:

"As a first release from Paper Stone Instruments, Palm Mute Piano is a product that demonstrates meticulous care and attention to detail: with multiple velocity layers, three mic sets and numerous articulations. Most importantly though Palm Mute Piano is a unique and creative slant on an otherwise familiar instrument, offering whole new ways of employing the sound of a piano in your music. From intricate harmonic-like lines, to ethereal pads, Palm Muted Piano is a surprisingly versatile musical tool."
Mark Cousins, Music Tech Magazine.

The Palm Mute Piano is available exclusively at Sampleism.

Currently priced at £22.99 until the end of May / RRP £34.99.

http://soundcloud.com/paperstonestudio/psi-palm-mute-piano-example