need advice on recording piano...

[yukonaddie]

i have a console piano in a small room that sits against the wall. i have the following mics to work with:

shure ksm 27
shure sm 57
shure beta 58

i'm not going for any special angle here, just want to capture the piano's natural sound. i've never miked one up before. any advice?

thanks tons

-mike

[kamistan]

I second that. I used an sm57 like you see below.

Grand mistake or genius?

I need something that truly captures the bass and the ambient sounds from leaving your foot on the pedal after hitting a note. If you understand what i mean.

[Heinrich Kollner]

Originally Posted by yukonaddie

i'm not going for any special angle here, just want to capture the piano's natural sound. i've never miked one up before. any advice?

Just use Propellerhead's Reason and download a few piano ReFills and I gaurantee you'll find the right piano sound! It's alot easier!!!

[Jones]

I too suggest you to use Propellerhead's Reason.

[khaliqovision]

Here's a link where you can get a free ebook
about recording acoustic piano at home.

>>> Piano Recording Secrets Ebook <<<

[richiebee]

Shure also does a great guide for miking up lots of things, pianos included -

http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/TechLi...musicstudio_ea

They are the ones that tuned me into the way I always mike up a grand piano.

[EnSkorSang]

Kamistan, for those ambient sounds, take off the front panel aswell as the lid. If you have more than 1 mic, try having one hovering about a foot above the lid, then experiment with the other. REcording a very nice piano is highly dependent on having a good room, with a nice natural reverb. In this case you might want the mic somewhere around the room to pick up those reflections. Also try having it a few inches below the keyboard, or pointing to the back of the piano. Another common setup is two mics setup about a foot behind the pianist, a little left and right of his shoulders.

[garageband]

EnSkorSang is right. Taking off the kick panel is right, sticking a mic down the top of it (like in the picture) is wrong. You wouldn't mic a steel string guitar by putting the mic next to the machines. Room sound is a huge component of any piano sound. The only drawback for putting the mic in front of the soundboard (imagine that!) is the pianist must make a conscious effort to minimize noise from his feet and the pedal action.
Nice condenser low, nice dynamic up top around shoulder level, adjusted depending on the room. Uprights can actually be miked up and sound good quite easily compared to some grand pianos. A properly tuned piano beats samples any day.

[khaliqovision]

All of the advice mentioned is valid but a lot depends on whether you need a stereo or mono piano.

Also, decide if you need a more aggressive sound or a laid back in the track sound. The reason is, the KSM-27 is a condenser mic and will capture more of the highs than the SM-57 or Beta 58 since they are dynamic mics.

You can record from the top, the front with the panel removed, or the back if you move it away from the wall. All three methods are valid and have different sounds.

If you decide to record it in stereo, I would use the KSM on the highs and the 57 on the lows.

Hope this helps.

P.S.- Also, you might be interested in checking out
How To Record Acoustic Piano At Home for more info.

[frshtrx]

I recorded a few piano pieces for different guys, liked how they came out... tips I heard from someone that helped me were -
if you have those multiple mics, and can use them all in a multi-track - for later adjustment:
close mike the hammers on upper registers to capture the concussive effect
use a second mic where garageband mentioned,
and a third 'relatively far away' - depending on the room, to capture the feeling or size of the room, and full resolution of lower registers
adjust/test all mics for all volume levels

then, back at the lab, sit and mix to what you feel...
On the production end, you may want to pan the high register concussive mic to the right and the room further to the left to give some stereo perception for the listener, similar to Enskorsang's comment
have fun