http://soundcloud.com/mickeysinghofficial/mickey-singh-akhiyan

I find this piano tone really beautiful. I am no expert with piano sounds, I don't even know if its a Grand, upright or digital simulation. But the characteristic I was able to recognize were the richness, softness, less percussive attack and very melodic depth.

Any hints would be appreciated.

 

I would say a very good digital keyboard, or a very well recorded piano because there's no parasite sound of the piano playing or the natural way of how harmonics melt together (Maybe it's a little obscure for you, I'm not I'm very clear)

... I will use my own examples using both:

http://soundcloud.com/deadwhitehorse/deadwhitehorse-adieu-tristesse

this one is a very lousy recorded piano, with a zoom H4n

and these ones:
http://soundcloud.com/deadwhitehorse/you-are-the-music-when-the

are all using the great VSTi Pianoteq by modartt. There is a not so limited demo on their website, only restricted in time of use and a few notes shutted down. It really emulates the position of where you place your microphone for a recording...
you really should try it...

Courage!

(there were more examples, but I couldn't post the links... and I'm using an old version of the soft so the updated is really different, more realistic which may be good for what you want)

 

I think it might be EQ to cut certain high frequencies...since I don't notice any new high frequencies when the intensity in playing increases.

 

The piano player tends to play in low-mid low octaves, and some pianos are more darker than others, so it could explain it... the fade in the end could have been shorten in the mix, but again, I think it's a digital...
I don't feel any acoustic room in the sound, too pure to be live.

 

for what you're talking about, it's possible to used a multi-band compressor... I used it one time to reduce the presence of the bass part of a piano.
It would sound more natural than an EQ, IMHO...

 

Taking the very bad sound of the vocals, I'd say this is a sampled piano.
The piano sounds very soft-ish, it doesn't sound overcompressed. NI Alicia's Keys, possibly.

 

Heeh! In Post T-pain world, these vocals are more than acceptable (sadly).

 

The song is very nice. You can never go wrong with Qawwali.

I think the piano is probably from a from a workstation like Fantom, Kronos, Motif.

Compare it to these:

Code:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFtvTSXPvZY

 

Had to dig up the original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEiMhakapw

You can hear shades of Nusrat. Touching.

I don't think it's Alicia's Keys on the Soundcloud song. A Yamaha C3 has more overtones. It has a pretty distinct and emotional sound, which is why it gets used a lot for movie soundtracks (Skywalker has a Yamaha grand, I think). If you listen closely, you don't hear any mechanical noises, also the Mickey Singh piano is pretty limited overall in terms of dynamics and frequency. It sounds nice, but a bit dull. That's why I think workstation.