Recording ‘Be Love’: RIOPY on the Steinway D Spirio at Curtis Schwartz Studio

Written By Curtis Schwartz

RIOPY recording on the Steinway D Spirio at Curtis Schwartz Studio in Sussex.

French pianist RIOPY recorded his album Be Love at Curtis Schwartz Studio in Sussex, performing on the studio’s Steinway D Spirio piano. The album has already reached over 500,000 streams in its first two weeks.

Listen to American Dream from RIOPY’s album Be Love, recorded at Curtis Schwartz Studio.

RIOPY recording vocals at Curtis Schwartz Studio in Sussex beside the Steinway D Spirio concert grand piano.

RIOPY recording vocals at Curtis Schwartz Studio in Sussex.

RIOPY lives in Portugal, where he composed and first performed the music on his Steinway C Spirio. When it came time to record the album, he flew to Gatwick and spent a week at Curtis Schwartz Studio.

Using the Steinway Spirio system, RIOPY was able to reproduce the performances he made at home in Portugal precisely on the studio’s Steinway D Spirio. Some compositions even contained up to 17 layered piano performances, creating a rich, symphonic texture.

For the recording sessions, the Steinway was also tuned slightly lower than standard concert pitch, at 432 Hz rather than 440 Hz — a tuning RIOPY prefers for its emotional character.

Artists regularly travel from across Europe to record at Curtis Schwartz Studio, drawn by the combination of a world-class Steinway Spirio and a quiet residential environment designed for focused recording.

Curtis Schwartz Studio is one of the very few recording studios in the world equipped with a Steinway D Spirio — a rare opportunity for artists to record on this instrument.

Curtis Schwartz Studio is a residential recording studio in Sussex featuring a Steinway D Spirio concert grand and facilities for both stereo and Dolby Atmos mixing.

Curtis Schwartz

Curtis Schwartz is an American composer, producer, sound engineer and multi-instrumentalist. Originally from Los Angeles (born in Vienna, schooled in UK and France), he is a music maker whose music blends Hip-hop, Rock, Pop, Dance and Jazz.

Curtis started his first rock band aged 14 as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter - and signed his first publishing deal aged 17.  This introduced Curtis to the world of London recording studios - the perfect environment for his passion for music-making and to work with much more experienced record producers from whom to learn his craft.

Aged 21 Curtis started his own recording studio devoting all his time to composing, producing and recording albums for a wide range of artists and record labels.  He is a master with all things related to Pro Tools and his beloved Apple computers.

Credits include:

Stacey Kent, The Beegees, Suede, Go West, Gwilym Simcock, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Steve Howe, Snowy White & The White Flames, ITV News Theme music, Bros, Cutting Crew, John Taylor, Evelyn Glennie, Matt Redman,  Jimmy Ruffin, Keith Mansfield, Dick Walter, The Studio Kings, Wop Bop Torledo, Lush, Vivienne Westwood, Nine Below Zero, Bushido, The Armoury Show, Attacco Decente, Asia, Dee C Lee, The Impossible Gentlemen, Trish Clowes, Christine Tobin and Julian Arguelles.

http://curtisschwartzstudio.com
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