Real piano. Recorded from your midi.

Tearworks plays your MIDI file on a real acoustic piano and sends back a finished recording.

You upload the MIDI file, it is performed on a Klavins Una Corda 88 through a QRS self-playing system in a purpose-built diffusion chamber in East London, and you receive WAV files at 48kHz and 24-bit within 48 hours.

There is no software instrument in the chain. The sound is a real instrument in a real room, recorded with microphones by an engineer.

A Tearworks recording costs £149 and is delivered within 48 hours.

That covers one piece, recorded on the Klavins Una Corda 88 and delivered as WAV at 48kHz and 24-bit.

You can upload several MIDI files or a whole album. Institutions, studios and labels can arrange a monthly or yearly package instead.

Yes. Turning a MIDI file into a real piano recording is what Tearworks does.

Your MIDI is performed mechanically on an acoustic piano rather than played back through a sampled instrument, so what you receive is a microphone recording of a real instrument.

Parts that no human hands could play can be recorded this way, within the physical limits of the piano action and the pedal.

Tearworks delivers a finished piano recording within 48 hours of receiving your MIDI file.

Delivery is often faster. Larger projects such as a full album are agreed with the engineer at briefing stage.

A session performed by a human pianist takes longer than the 48 hour standard.

The Klavins Una Corda gives us intimacy, detail, and closeness at the source.

Historically, pianos developed multiple strings per note to create more projection and a chorused, ensemble-like sound suited to the stage and mimicking the power of an orchestra.

But much of modern music asks for something else: gentle, immediate and close detail.

After years of engineering, we have often found ourselves trying to make projecting grand pianos sound like that with microphone placement and processing.

The Klavins Una Corda is purpose-built for that sound, and produces that sound from the instrument itself, before the recording chain even begins.

For optimal recording fidelity, the source often matters more than microphones, and microphone placement often matters more than levelling and processing.

The Una Corda is more flexible than it may first appear.

Some people see the Klavins Una Corda as a very specific instrument. We think its flexibility is often underestimated.

At low velocity it is at its most detailed, and at high velocity it still carries low end for its build.

It has a lot of character, but that character can be shaped differently just with how you choose to mix the microphone recordings.

We also offer several preparations that change the sound in different ways and create diverse sound profiles.

Due to the accuracy of the self-playing system, you can also record the same piece multiple times and layer the different takes for micro variation.

Tearworks offers several string preparations that change the tone of the piano before recording: felt, cotton, cheesecloth, or none at all.

Each preparation changes the attack, softness and brightness of the piano, giving you several tone options to choose from.

Thick felt creates the softest and darkest sound. Cotton gives a more elegant, hushed tone. Cheesecloth creates a subtler rounding of the attack. No preparation gives the clearest and most open version of the piano.

Thicker preparations can sometimes create more string artefacts, sympathetic movement, pinch harmonics or additional physical texture. Depending on the project, this may or may not be the right fit. These artefacts are part of how the instrument behaves.

Tearworks has the house piano tuned to concert standard, but no acoustic piano stays perfectly in tune.

It is a physical instrument, affected by season, temperature, humidity, and use, even in a controlled room.

Digital pianos can stay perfectly in tune. A real piano carries small natural variations, and we believe that is part of what makes it feel organic, emotional, and alive.

If your recording feels too out of tune, please contact hello@tearworks.com and we will make sure you receive a recording you are happy with as soon as possible.

The QRS self-playing system produces some natural mechanical noise, much like the action of any acoustic piano.

Depending on the project, this can be either a strength or a limitation. It can add realism, texture, and physical presence, but it may not be right for every production. When mixing the stems, you can accentuate or lower the mechanical noise of the piano action and self-playing system by prioritising the soundboard mid/side recording.

The piano is recorded inside a purpose-built diffusion chamber, because on a piano recording the room is part of the instrument.

Imagine speaking inside a closet. Now imagine recording an instrument there.

The chamber preserves detail and space without sounding dry or boxed in.

No. Tearworks is not an AI music service, and no part of the sound is generated.

Your recording is made with a real acoustic instrument, real physical mechanics, real cables, real analog hardware, human engineering, human listening and decision making.

The self-playing system performs your MIDI on the piano mechanically, but the sound itself comes from a real instrument in a real room. We listen, adjust, and record using the same principles as a traditional studio session.

Tearworks does not support replacing musicians with AI. We work with real pianists, engineers, and artists. Our remote service exists to make high quality piano recording more accessible to artists who may not have access to a specialist studio or a large recording budget.

You keep ownership of your MIDI and your final recording.

Tearworks does not take ownership of your composition, your MIDI, or the piano recording we deliver to you.

When you pay for a recording, you receive the rights to use that recording in your own music, subject to our terms and conditions.

Tearworks treats your music as private material.

Your files are uploaded securely and delivered through personal download links.

Recordings are deleted after 30 days.

Yes. Tearworks records single pieces, several pieces, or a full album.

You can upload one MIDI file or multiple MIDI files anywhere on the site.

If you have any trouble uploading, please contact hello@tearworks.com or send the files directly by email.

If something is wrong with your recording, Tearworks will put it right.

Because we record live, rare mistakes or interruptions can happen.

Power issues, external noise, fire alarms, mechanical faults, or other real world problems can affect a take.

Please contact hello@tearworks.com and we will make sure you receive a recording you are happy with.

The self-playing system has real physical limits, mainly the sustain pedal and fast repeated notes on the same key.

The sustain pedal cannot be held continuously for very long periods, because the pedal solenoid has safety limits. Approximately 15 seconds is the limit for automatic disengagement of the sustain pedal.

The system often plays with a stronger touch than many piano plugins are programmed to expect. We usually recommend keeping MIDI velocities low, often between 1 and 50, and only using higher values for strong accents.

Because this is a real upright piano action, fast repeated notes on the same key may not always retrigger. The note may simply not sound if repeated faster than the actual piano mechanism can reset.

Alternating notes, however, can be played at extremely high speeds, making it possible to create textures that would be impossible for a human pianist.

If your composition may push against some of these limitations, please consult with our recording engineer during briefing stage after successfully uploading.

The self-playing system lets you write real piano parts beyond human hands.

You can write chords across the entire keyboard at once.

You can expand and layer counterpoint sequences across the entire keyboard.

You can create extremely fast alternating patterns.

You can automate tempo, timing, and velocity with exact precision.

You can combine techniques that would normally be impossible, such as very quiet notes at extreme speed, perfectly linear velocity ramps, or generative MIDI from MaxMSP.

Tearworks offers monthly and yearly partnership packages for institutions, studios, labels and companies.

These can cover regular or expanded use of the service.

For B2B enquiries, please contact hello@tearworks.com.

Tearworks can have a human pianist perform your piece instead of the self-playing system, on selected projects.

A human pianist session will usually increase both the price and delivery time. There will always be a level of human interpretation, human error and general human sound such as breathing, floor creaking and more erratic key pressing noise.

For some projects, a human delivers the best result; for others, self-playing can deliver something humans cannot.

Please contact hello@tearworks.com and we can arrange a recording performed directly by a pianist from our team.

Tearworks is available for selected in-house sessions at the studio.

We offer recording, production, analog synth composition, songwriting, mixing, and mastering in-house.

We have also hosted live performances, multimedia performances, podcasts, interviews, and other music related sessions.

Please contact hello@tearworks.com and we can discuss any project you may have in mind.