Piano and Vocals Set Up?

JrPilotKerr00

New member
Hey all, I’m brand new to these forums and I’m looking for some advice. I want to start doing piano and vocal recordings with my baby grand at home. I’m looking for some recording equipment suggestions that are simple, good quality, and affordable (if that’s possible). I’m thinking of using 2 condenser mics for the piano, and a dynamic mic for vocals, but I’m not sure if that’s the way to go. Product suggestions are appreciated, too. Thanks!
 
Are you planning on recording vocals separately (ideal), or while you're playing the piano?

What sort of budget are you working with?
 
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Ah the dodgy and illusive "how does one mic a piano?" question...

It's easy...just put any microphone you might have in your possesion in the same room the piano is in, attach that mic to a recorder and press record..done...or so it begins :eek:

It really is a subjective thing and there are a gazillion roads that lead to piano recording nirvana...Here is a link to a article at sweetwater with regards to what they refer to as a piano miking summit where a lot of people of various levels of fame and fortune chime in on how they find nirvana...

As Pinky asked are you planning on recording the piano and vocals at the same time? ( HARDER TO FIND NIRVANA BUT POSSIBLE WITH CAVEATS) or seperately MUCH EASIER to get good results but requires two seperate performances not a "live recording" per se...

I am sure fine with the sound of my Yamaha MOX8 piano sounds you can listen to em on my recordings in my signature below.... Now I hate doing multi take multi track recordings cause I'm lazy so I go for the one shot live style all the time but it is Waaaaaay easier with a digital piano..as the piano part is digitally being recorded on one stereo track not mic'd and picking up my vocals...The banging of the keys is picked up by my vocal mic but it's easy to remove from the vocal tracks with 5 minutes of automation...sometimes I remove..sometimes I don't...

But again I don't put a lot of time into my recordings....

back in the olden days it sure was hard to get the damn piano to sound like it did in the room...that's all I remember ugh!
 
Sorry I'm just now seeing this. My plan is to record vocals WHILE recording piano as well. I've been thinking just using one mic, but turning up the high end and low end, and turning down the mids if necessary. For the budget, I'm looking for as low as possible, but decent quality... if thats possible...
Are you planning on recording vocals separately (ideal), or while you're playing the piano?

What sort of budget are you working with?
 
Sorry I'm just now seeing this. My plan is to record vocals WHILE recording piano as well. I've been thinking just using one mic, but turning up the high end and low end, and turning down the mids if necessary. For the budget, I'm looking for as low as possible, but decent quality... if thats possible...

One mic would be a mono recording, while okay perhaps for what you're trying to accomplish, you probably want to consider two or more mics, even if they're not dedicated to vocals and piano individually [a good room/"live" recording]. Ideally you want the piano and vocals captured separately, so you can have control over them individually when mixing later.

EQ after you get a good capture raw "live" using the music software on the computer, don't mess with the clean signal coming in (you can't undue that easily).

If you assume proper mic stands, possible shock mount/pop filter for a vocal mic, the mics themselves, interface with 2-4 inputs... you might be able to get something decent captured for maybe $800. If you don't have software then you might also be adding that, depending on how much you're willing to engage with Reaper which is free but has a learning curve.
 
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