Decisions, Decisions....

[A1A2]

I'm working on a little project of mine where a grand piano (an old steinway or a newer kawaii) or a pretty nice Yamaha upright piano is gonna be the main rhythm instrument, there will be a semi distorted electric lead guitar, electric bass gtr, female vocal and drums (Tama) as well.

I have some tough decisions to make here. Which instrument is gonna occupy which frequency range, which will affect mic'in positions, mic choice and etc...I know it's a matter of perference/taste, but my biggest concern is the mids to highs fighting for space, so I was hoping if anyone here has done something similiar and perhaps can share your experience with me.

Oh, if you can think of a particular song that could be my reference, that would be really great.

Thanks in advance

Al

[Garry Sharp]

How about Patti Smith, Because The Night

[Jblount]

Alot of newer contemporary christian music has the piano as the main instrument. You might want to check out Nicole Norderman.

[carlosguardia]

I´m working on something kind of similar to what you´re talking about. Check out a thread on the mp3 Mixing Clinic where you can get a listen to my tune and if you like what you hear I can tell you what I did as far as mic placement, fx and eq.

Carlos

[A1A2]

thanks for the names, guys.

carlosguardia,

downloading your tune right now, song#2, hopefully that's the one you were talking about since I'm downloading at 1.8kb/sec...

Al

[TexRoadkill]

Sara Macglachlan and Tori Amos have some of the best piano/rock/pop music ever recorded. Any of their stuff is good reference. Sara's 'Fumbling Towards Ecstasy' is on my all time best sounding albums ever list.

[ebeam]

How 'bout old Elton John.....

[TexRoadkill]

Originally posted by ebeam
How 'bout old Elton John.....

Actually his latest album has a pretty cool sound. I was going to get the CD but never got around to it. From what I heard on VH1 it has a much more organic sound and simpler songs instead of all that adult easy listening crap he has been doing for the last 10yrs.

[Michael Jones]

Originally posted by A1A2
... Which instrument is gonna occupy which frequency range, which will affect mic'in positions, mic choice and etc...I know it's a matter of perference/taste, but my biggest concern is the mids to highs fighting for space, so I was hoping if anyone here has done something similiar and perhaps can share your experience with me.

Oh, if you can think of a particular song that could be my reference, that would be really great.

Thanks in advance

Al

Obviously the piano is going to occupy the largest frequency range.
The trick, I believe, in a production like this is the arrangement of the instrumentation. To me, in my way of thinking, its unlikely that all of the "voices" will be happening at the same time, though, they could I suppose.
A sort of "Call and Response" arrangement would work well for something like this.

Listen to my song "December's Mist" for an idea of instrument arrangement, and notice how the piano calls for a response from the other instruments (flute, strings, and french horn)

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/...d=1656&alid=-1