Hi there,

I'm a composition student who's hired a player to record a short etude I've written. He first (suspiciously, I thought) asked for my sibelius file and then sent this recording through the next day.

http://kiwi6.com/file/k4la87l281

My immediate feeling is that this is my midi being played through Reason, Cubase or Logic.

Please tell me if you agree. I'm planning on emailing his faculty and every conservatoire in the country with his details and recording if he refuses to return my money.

We've had some experience here with exposing fake recordings, and I do think this sounds a bit artificial, especially the run at 1:25, with the repeated note at the end, and the impossibly smooth diminuendo at 1:33. One would have to be extremely skilled for this, and it's unlikely that your hired player is such a world-class artist. His asking for the Sibelius file would have made me suspicious too. Though I'd not bet my life on it, I think this is a fake. Although... would any serious music student, which I understand he is, be so stupid ? Could also be it's heavily edited and/or
sped up.

Ask him what piano it's played on, and demand a video playing on the same. This usually exposes con artists.

Good piece, by the way, full of brio and invention. It is worthy of someone's serious attention IMO - though it would be a hell of a lot of work ! I like the title too