Guerilla piano recording

[curtiswyant]

I want to get some "free piano recording time" in my uni's practice rooms. They are small and sound crappy but I figure I can get something decent. I need suggestions on a portable 2+ track recorder with pre's that would work in this situation. Sound quality isn't a big deal; I think a 57 will get a decent sound and filter some of the crappy room sound. Any suggestions?

[giraffe]

a piano in a bad room can be impossible, maby not impossible but very hard to get a good sound out of.

id maby try a boundry mic, taped to the piano, i read whare people get some good results from this, and it takes the room out of the equasion.

dammit, what the heck are thoes mic's called....... the kind that turn PHYSICAL energy into electrisity, instead of acoustical.........oh yea


piazo
i remembered it but i'm not sure i spelled it correctly though

[DonF]

Piezo.

http://www.activemusician.com/store/...=&sn=150&nav=a

(Disclaimer: I've never used one of these, or bought anything from activemusician.com. I'm including the link for informational purposes only.)

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by curtiswyant

Sound quality isn't a big deal; I think a 57 will get a decent sound and filter some of the crappy room sound. Any suggestions?

I suppose this is another of those threads that hinges completly on exactly what one's definition of "decent sound" may be, but you'll have a very hard time getting a "good" piano sound out of 57s, especially a single one. If you're going for a rock/honky tonk piano sound you might be able to get away with a couple of 57s a few inches below the hammers, but will have a hard tiime getting all 73 or 88 keys with just a single one.

Agreed a piezo is a good option. You also might want to consider renting a couple of condensors for a day. One mic I was rather pleased with (used it on a Baldwin baby grand) was actually a Rode NT4 which is dual/stereo coincident SDCs in a single package. Ran one through a Tascam 122 which USB'd into a laptop and got suprisingly nice results.

If you have the computer already, get some free recording software like Audigy and the recorder will be no cost. For two hundred bucks you can get the Tascam with some suprisingly clean mic pres in it, and you can rent some piezos or an NT4 (or whatever) for a few bucks a day of a day or two. You'll wind up with a quality guerilla recording instead of a passable gorilla recording, and it will cost you the same - if not less - than most decent recorders.

G.

[curtiswyant]

I've already got some decent condensers but I think they would pick up the crappy room sound. And yes I would be going for the honky tonk/rock piano sound. I just want something better than VST pianos which, frankly, sound like shit.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by curtiswyant

I've already got some decent condensers but I think they would pick up the crappy room sound. And yes I would be going for the honky tonk/rock piano sound. I just want something better than VST pianos which, frankly, sound like shit.

Well, if they're close-miked, the condensors won't pick up any signifigantly more room sound than the dynamics would. When we recorded with that NT4, we had it inside the piano about 6" above the strings and about a foot below the hammers, and we got nothing but the piano itself.

If you're still worried about or getting too much of the room, grab a moving blanket or similar and drape it over the piano opening with the mics placed as needed inside.

G.

P.S. An addendum to my first post. The Tascam interface comes with a copy of Cubase SE, so you'll have fairly decent quality DAW software already with that setup.

G.