Mic'ing a Steinway baby grand

Evildick

Evildick

New member
I'll be moving back to VA in a couple of months to be close to where my G'dad lives. He plays and composes classical music and I was hoping to capture this on some live home recordings. I would have to close mic it considering his piano is in his living room and acoustics aren't all that great. I looking into purchasing mics to record this. My basic setup is

2x Shure SM-57
1 Shure SM-58
1 Rode NTK

Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro mic pres
Layla24
SONAR w/ Waves Native Gold Bundle

Aside from spending a couple grand on a great studio mic, are there any mic's out there (<$500) that would compliment what I already have to render a decent recording of the piano pieces?
I'm looking to capture the warmth of the grand on a budget.
 
What I usually see at classical recitals that are being recorded, is 2 small condensors in a stereo pair above the strings, and a large diaphragm condensor as a room mic, about 2 meters from the piano, aimed at the lid...
 
That's what I was thinking. I wanted to minimize the room sound though but I really won't know until I mic it up. Hell, it has to sound better than a Radio Shack mic. I'll probably place an extra mic near the couch behind the piano to pick up the crazy comments from my relatives in between songs. It should be fun.
 
That's about the idea I guess, close mic, minimizing the room sound, and have enough room on an other track, should you need it... And one track for the crazy comments. hehe.
 
OK, I'll post this again:

I've posted this here before, but here goes again:

I used a pair of TLM 103's in this way:
One was set about 15" behind the pin block and about 8" above the strings around 1-1/3 octaves below middle C. The other was about 9" behind the pin block and about 4" above the strings around 1-1/3 octaves above middle C. The mic faces were angled in about 12 degrees toward each other. The lid was in the full up position.
My TLM's run to an ART PRO MPA Tube mic pre-amp, and then into a "Nuendo" 8 i/o 24 bit A/D-D/A converter, and recorded at 24 bit in "Nuendo". I added a very slight touch of EQ after recording for a warmer presence. (No reverb on the piano)
I will stress however, that this technique works good for me, on my piano, in my room. You may get different results with your situation, but I tried SO MANY micing techniques for Grand Piano, and finally got the results you heard here:
http://artists3.iuma.com/site-bin/streammp3.m3u?190193

I have since upgraded my mic pre-amp, but the sample was done with the ART Pro MPA (not to be confused with the ART Tube Pac, or whatever that cheapy model is.)
 
Thanks Mike

Sorry that you had to repost that again but it's exactly what I was looking for. The mp3 helped greatly in the sound that I could expect. It's great to have a frame of reference to base my recording upon.

Great recording by the way. Thanks again.
 
I won't be recording until mid August but I'll definitely post the recordings. Thanks again for the help.
 
Since you don't have them already, a pair of budget small diaphram condensors to use as a stereo pair would be either a pair of Oktava MC012's (either from The Sound Room, or do your own quality control by testing the ones at Guitar Center), or the MXL 603's (I think 8th Street's got the best price at the moment).
-kent
 
Aren't 603s similar to the 57's? I'm thinking about saving up for the TLM 103's since I have a couple months before I record. It's that gear slut factor always wanting a Neumann similar to my always wanting a Gibson LP. I'll have to see if I can find the Octava's to demo since I'm always open to suggestions. I'm slowly building a mic collection that I'll want to keep down the road.
 
I'll probably use all the rec's here on different days to get different sounds on the same pieces. I'm still learning mic positioning so incorporating what others have learned always makes the experience that much better. Especially after reading Harvey's thread, I'm a kid in a candy store. This is one hell of a hobby, now to get back to work.
 
Ignore the 603s vs 57 comparison. I don't know what I was thinking. I am looking for small diaphragm condensor mic. Will have to look into that.
 
Are there any cheap PZM's? Just wondering. I'm in search of a cheap mic solution for my upright. Problem is, cheap mics mostly aren't a solution. Darn.
 
No kidding, the Steinway is only one of the family pianos I wanted to mic. There are also two seperate uprights that are completely different monsters altogether. I have this crazy feeling that my folks are going to pass out when I remove the kickboard. I suppose I'll pull the usual stupid look and state the ever famous quote "trust me". Their response should be worth it as long as it's on tape.
 
I tried using PZM/Boundary microphones on a grand once. I didn't like the results. Thats not to say that it can't be done, just for me, the result was dissappointing. Could have been the mic I suppose, the signal frrom it was EXTREMELY HOT! So I really had to back off the gain. I think the PZM would have been better suited for a chior or a smaller ensemble.
 
Roel said:
Are there any cheap PZM's? Just wondering. I'm in search of a cheap mic solution for my upright. Problem is, cheap mics mostly aren't a solution. Darn.
Click to expand...

Check eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=874294020

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=872915908

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1354138285

to name but 3...

- Wil

BTW: Roel, move the upright away from wall, tape 2 PZMs to wall, about 4' from the floor, and about 6' apart. It will depend so much on the room, and if the room is lousy, the only way to ignore it is to put the mics inside the piano (easy with PZMs - as I've said on more than one occasion...) - good luck!
 
A few months back I recorded a 1912 Stienway grand using Michael Jones' location reccomendations and it came out great. I was going to go with two 012's but used one and a C-1 (on the bass strings) instead. It just sounded a little better. I also fanned them out about 15 degrees.
 
There are lots of cheap PZM's - Crown for instance. But I wouldn't recommend them.

You may want to try the small diaphragm Omnis - the advantage is no proximity effect - so you can get really close to the strings without getting "boomy" and minimize room sound.

I have an 1897 Steinway B, and I've tried lots of different mics - but my favorites now are a matched pair of Earthworks QTC's. The biggest advantage of these over the Behringer is they are extremely quiet. But they are also about 10 times the price.
 
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