Upright piano tracking question - 1st attempt....

[JeffreyC]

Hey all - so I recently purchased an old upright piano - Baldwin Hamilton from the 80's.
I've had it tuned recently and it sounds great. I have it up against a short wall and there
is a super high ceiling in the room. Anyway, I found a good video on youtube of a guy recording
a piano just like mine and tried his technique. LDC near bass strings and a SDC on high string side....

YouTube

Gear I'm using -

Beezneez Arabella; Neumann KM184 into A-designs Pacifica into FF800

I was monitoring through Ultrasone Proline 650 headphones.

So, I got everything sounding pretty good through the headphones and did a bunch of takes.
When I listened to the tracks in my mixing room (treated) through HS80m monitors, I found
the tracks to be overly bassy and dull (not bright enough). So my question is - how can I be
sure about what I'm tracking when it seems what the headphones are telling me is not accurate
as we know they can be with bass??

I'd appreciate any thoughtful advice on how I can get around this issue.

Thanks and let me know if you need more info!

 

[analogdrone]

Recording Techniques For Upright Piano

 

[coreytx]

The best way to know what kinds of sounds you are getting is to know your monitors and headphones. I don't think there are any tricks.

Know that your headphones have a hyped midrange/low end (or whatever) and mic the piano accordingly.

 

[witzendoz]

When I did own an upright piano (had to sell another sad story) which was a Ronisch built 1918, I always ended up micing with 2 LDC's at the back, like suggested here. I did try taking off panels and micing from the top but I liked the woody earthy sound I got from the back, and so did the piano players. Again room acoustics and piano quality mean everything.

Alan.