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Dick Van Dyke
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 5
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 Posted - Mon Jun 30, 2003 8:51 am
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Hi,
What's the BEST way to mic up a piano? What mics should be used? I'm using SM58's, is this gonna be good enough? How many? Where on the piano itself?
Anyone?
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zemlin
Location: USA
Posts: 1156
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Posted - Mon Jun 30, 2003 8:56 am
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I'm no expert, but I've made a few piano recordings.
The "best" way depends on the piano, the room, they type of music, and most likely does not include SM58's.
There's plenty of information on how to mic pianos out on the web. Here's one resource that seems to be a worthwhile read:
http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/may99/articles/recpiano.htm
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MusicConductor
Location: USA
Posts: 1524
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Posted - Mon Jun 30, 2003 9:29 am
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If you want a rock-n-roll sound, you'd likely place the mics close to the hammers pointed straight down at them. Some like an X-Y pair right at the curve of the grand piano just above the rim (probably with the lid on short stick). Some tape PZM mics to the sides or inside of the lid (probably with it shut). Some place a pair 3-6 feet away from the piano with the lid all the way up. Still others will put the mics way out in the room and make it sound like a recital from the back row (anybody ever heard Nimbus' piano LPs or CDs?).
Karl's advice is good, and by no means use an SM-58 or any other dynamic mic, but rather, use the best condensers you can buy, borrow, or rent. A good piano will easily bring out the worst in a mic, so use the best you can.
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Dick Van Dyke
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 5
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Posted - Mon Jun 30, 2003 11:35 am
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Thanks.
In my experience, PZM's are crap. Maybe that's because I've been using ****ty PZM's but it's scared me for life. Can you reccomend a good model of condenser mic? AKG C1000S's are good, if my memory serves me right...
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ozpeter
Location: Australia
Posts: 3200
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Posted - Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:32 pm
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See [url=http://forums.syntrillium.com/topic.asp?FORUM_TITLE=Hardware and Sound Cards&CAT_ID=4&TOPIC_ID=9230&FORUM_ID=10&TOPIC_TITLE=Recording Piano&REPLY_ID=53187]this previous thread [/url] and there seem to be a number of others to be searched for - eg searching for "piano mic", match all words.
The answer does very much depend on genre, type of piano, character of room, live or session, etc etc.
- Ozpeter
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redblanchard
Location: USA
Posts: 6
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Posted - Wed Jul 02, 2003 1:50 pm
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Over many years in the broadcast biz, I arrived at the conclusion that one mike is on a stand in front of the fully open top, and the other one is on a Desk Stand on the floor under the piano! You might have to move the lower one around for a particular piano.
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Red Blanchard |
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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Posted - Wed Jul 02, 2003 3:45 pm
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| redblanchard wrote: |
| Over many years in the broadcast biz, I arrived at the conclusion that one mike is on a stand in front of the fully open top, and the other one is on a Desk Stand on the floor under the piano! You might have to move the lower one around for a particular piano. |
Bit difficult to apply this to an upright, I would have thought... 
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rfchmbrs
Location: USA
Posts: 30
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Posted - Wed Jul 02, 2003 3:51 pm
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SteveG,
Off topic.
I'd like to discuss with you off-line about that dreaded topic of removing vocal waveforms. Please e-mail me at the address in my profile if you have the time and patience to interact with me.
Thanks,
RON C
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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Posted - Wed Jul 02, 2003 4:10 pm
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| rfchmbrs wrote: |
SteveG,
Off topic.
I'd like to discuss with you off-line about that dreaded topic of removing vocal waveforms. Please e-mail me at the address in my profile if you have the time and patience to interact with me. |
I honestly don't think I do. Read 'Remove Music, Keep Vocal (Here's an idea)' - it will tell you why.
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RossW
Location: USA
Posts: 214
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Posted - Wed Jul 02, 2003 6:38 pm
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| SteveG wrote: |
| redblanchard wrote: |
| Over many years in the broadcast biz, I arrived at the conclusion that one mike is on a stand in front of the fully open top, and the other one is on a Desk Stand on the floor under the piano! You might have to move the lower one around for a particular piano. |
Bit difficult to apply this to an upright, I would have thought...
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Not if you remove the lower front panel. I think this usually pops off quite easily to get at the pedal mechanism, lower harp, etc. You could put a low mike at each end for a glorious (?) stereo spread, with or without a high mike pointing down into the lidless top. Certainly not as pretty a sound as a decent grand setup, but it does work. Best advice is to experiment with whatever you have to work with, until you get the results you like.
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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Posted - Fri Jul 04, 2003 6:40 am
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| RossW wrote: |
| SteveG wrote: |
| redblanchard wrote: |
| Over many years in the broadcast biz, I arrived at the conclusion that one mike is on a stand in front of the fully open top, and the other one is on a Desk Stand on the floor under the piano! You might have to move the lower one around for a particular piano. |
Bit difficult to apply this to an upright, I would have thought...
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Not if you remove the lower front panel. I think this usually pops off quite easily to get at the pedal mechanism, lower harp, etc. You could put a low mike at each end for a glorious (?) stereo spread, with or without a high mike pointing down into the lidless top. Certainly not as pretty a sound as a decent grand setup, but it does work. Best advice is to experiment with whatever you have to work with, until you get the results you like.
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Hmmm... if you put a mic under a grand piano, it's the equivalent of putting one behind the soundboard on an upright, not in front of the bass strings... but I'd agree that experiments are often the order of the day with pianos, especially if they've been moved. But my experience has been that it's the positioning of the mic near the upper strings that really makes the major difference - which is as it should be, when you consider the wavelengths of the sounds involved.
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