The title may seem weird, but, I want to get the worst recording possible. I want a very dirty and messed up sound, but not from digital fx. Something close to what I want is the beginning of “Google Your Own Death” by Clown Core. It’s a very dirty and Lofi sounding piano recording with alot of background noise and almost no high end. How can i get this type of recording without any post-fx?
I’m curious as to why you don’t want to use processing to get that kind of sound? You’re making your life difficult, it is so easy to do whatever you want with your recording after the fact.
But anyway, from what I’ve heard in this recording I’d say you need an upright piano (preferably a cheap one), to begin with. Then you need a really crappy microphone and you need to place it on the floor close to the pedals or maybe even inside the piano but completely at the bottom. That should get you a similar balance between the piano notes and the action of the pedals. Then there’s the hiss, honestly I don’t know where it comes from so I’m not sure what to say here, except it would be super easy to add after the fact with sound design.
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I do have an upright piano, it’s perfect. I think trying to digitally make the recording sound bad would be harder than having it recorded bad in the first place. And digitally altered might not sound as realistic. I’ll try what you said tho!
Yep, clowncore’s amazing.
I used a very old webcam of mine and got a decent (bad sounding, like I want) sound! This is with no effects
Yup, I haven’t listened back to the reference track but that’s kind of the vibe. 
You get a bad recording by having me give you tracks. Especially after a few beers. Interesting thought tho . Maybe kinda like the old saloon piano/singer?
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What you did (and very insightful BTW) was reduce your bit depth, most likely. Possibly sample rate also. But you could have done the same thing if you use Reaper. Just set your Project Settings under “Media | WAV bit depth” to “8 bit u-LAW” or “8 bit PCM” and I’ll bet that would have done the trick. Low bit depth is part of the sound you were going for, as well as mic placement etc. Of course, change the settings back for other more modern musical recordings after that.
Just come to my house and record it!
You could use a laptop microphone - they’re great for voice calls, but awful for capturing instruments. I’d then record it export it at some ludicrously low sample rate.
You don’t have a tape recorder do you?
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Ok thanks!
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