Anyone interested in a good old fashoned mic shoot out?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Jones
  • Start date Start date
Michael Jones

Michael Jones

New member
I recently purchased a pair of API 312's racked and powered by Brent Averill.
To date I have placed recordings of my 7'-2" Boston Grand piano using the 312's and pairs of the following mics:

SM57
SM81
MXL603

I'm not trolling for comments or critiques, I just thought these comparisons might be useful to some, and to give members an idea of what some of our common mics can sound like thru a quality pre-amp.

All tracks were recorded at 24/48 thru Nuendo and exported to MP3 format. All tracks were recorded using a wide stereo placement, and recorded flat. (i.e. No EQ, No processing)

I'll be posting more mics, with different pre's in the future.

I'll offer my thoughts on the mics listed:

SM57 - It's true: This mic doesn't suck on anything, especially when driven by a quality pre! A bit harsh in the mids, but some gentle eq could even it out.

SM81 - A continual favorite of mine, this mic excells at all things acoustic.

MXL603 - I was surprised by how little gain this mic required. That seemed to aid in its overall noise level, but to my ears, it lacks definition in the lower frequencies. (100hz and below)


Just giving a little back. ;)

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1656&alid=-1
The song names are pretty self explainatory.
 
Last edited:
i liked the sm81 best but there is a very strange swell to the instrument overall. i'm not sure if it's your room or the piano but it just sounds odd. it's like some sort of resonance slowly (and unnaturally) builds and the melody gets all washed up in the accompanying chords.

thanks for posting anyway. i liked the 603's the least. weird boxy sound to them.
 
well..that was interesting.

my opinions..

the sm57 sounded very warm and bottom heavy... no top end

the 603 sounded like the low end was just rolled off a little at 100htz @12dB/octave

sm81 ....well...this was a DIFFERENT PITCH than the others!!!..about a 1/4..maybe less...but lower.
sounded similar to the 603.

I listened to the sm81 w/eq on the other pre too. That sounded very midrangy to me.

Additionally, besides the lead foot on the sustain pedal, they ALL sounded muddy and murky to me. No air, crispness, highend..whatever you want to call it. Plus the transients in the attacks seem not like they should be. Also, not sure how this is happening, but the notes kinda "swell" into a sitar kinda sound...Not that noticeable, but it hit me pretty solid that it was a tad strange. It just seemed that these tracks lacked presense too....not in a 'bright' sense...but up close..

Where did you put your mics? Do you take your top off your piano? You might try it, if you haven't. I don't know...I'm certainly no expert in getting great piano sounds, but it sounds like the mics are shoved under the lid, and a packing blanket was thrown over the whole affair to isolate it from a rock drum kit that was going to blast away on the other side of the room, but yet, still kinda distant sounding....like 5' away...except for all the bottom end in the files.

Is the Boston a dark sounding piano? Maybe that's what I am hearing. I've never heard one...so that shows you what I know.
Plenty of both the "B" pianos and a sampling of the "S" pianos. I used to work in a piano store a long time ago...but they only sold Kawai !!?? and all the little spinet models for the housewives.:cool:
 
mixmkr said:
Also, not sure how this is happening, but the notes kinda "swell" into a sitar kinda sound...Not that noticeable, but it hit me pretty solid that it was a tad strange.
Click to expand...

It was very noticeable and weird to me. Maybe it's the tuning of the piano? I've never heard anything quite like that before.

I'd like to hear some samples with a bit less sustain pedal.....like none.
 
I for one was suprised at how good the SM57 sounded.

I couldn't tell if the wash of sound I was hearing was room reflections, reverb, sustain pedal, etc.

I'll echo one of the comments above, I'd like to hear a drier recording of the mic's.
 
Thanks for the post. Just yesterday I was listening to a grand piano in what you would call a very large living room about 35 feet long and 20 feet wide and after listening to your recordings i would have to say that the sound
you are getting is what I would call very real.
 
I'm actually NOT heavy on the sustain on this. In fact, in the original wave files, you can hear all of the dampering. That damper sound just didn't translate well to the MP3. And there's NO EQ, and NO REVERB on any of the files.

I think we're just hearing bad room reflections. And I'm not sure I know what you mean by "swell"? There is an increasing dynamic in the passage, but thats how its written. (The passage is the first verse from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "All I Ask of You") I wanted something that had good range in both interval and dynamic for these tests.

The Boston pianos are indeed very dark sounding, to me that's its apeal, unlike Yamaha pianos, which, by contrast, are extremely bright.

For even more contrast in sound, check out "December's Mist".
That song was done with 2 TLM103's.
 
Last edited:
sm81s sound pretty good to me, but yeah...something a little weird...

i'd play the rhythm a bit more straight, playing like that on a song that is intended to be accompanied by vocals always makes me think "hmm, he just can't keep up with the piece" hehe.
 
"No more talk of darkness. Let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, nothing can harm you. My words will warm and calm you. "

:)


I think I preferred the 81 the best. Seemed to cover the frequency range with the best balance. I'd like to hear more from that mic. Any other samples? ...guitar maybe?
 
Oh, incidently, I got to see the Phantom at the Majestic a couple years ago. While I wish I had seen it with Crawford, it was still one hell of an entertaining show. I used to listen to the soundtrack all the time in high school, between Mozart and Metallica. Made homework somehow more dramatic. :)
 
SLuiCe said:
"No more talk of darkness. Let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, nothing can harm you. My words will warm and calm you. "
Click to expand...
... "Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime, promise me that all you say is true. Christine, that's all I ask of you...."

Cool!
Another ALW fan!
I see that play everytime it comes to town. It is incredible!
 
Re: Re: Anyone interested in a good old fashoned mic shoot out?

chrisharris said:
LOL... good luck.

;)
Click to expand...
HaHa. Yeah, so I'm finding out!
 
oops....I missed the not "wanting comments", etc... :(

However, I thought I'd say something instead....and didn't figure you'd need to comment back!!! ...just for personal reference in the future...ya know...that kinda stuff!!.

thanks Michael for your effort on this. I know it takes a bit to do this, and is hard to do it accurately.

Feel free to post stuff like this anytime (of course, you don't need my permission:D ) and gather all the unsoliceted results you may get!..
 
mixmkr said:
oops....I missed the not "wanting comments", etc... :(

However, I thought I'd say something instead....and didn't figure you'd need to comment back!!! ...just for personal reference in the future...ya know...that kinda stuff!!.

thanks Michael for your effort on this. I know it takes a bit to do this, and is hard to do it accurately.

Feel free to post stuff like this anytime (of course, you don't need my permission:D ) and gather all the unsoliceted results you may get!..
Click to expand...
Hey, don't get me wrong. Comments are always welcome! I'm just here to learn, and try to help when I can.

It IS tough to do this sort of thing (as you know full well) especially in a room that's too small for that piano, and has minimal treatment. (That's why everything is close miked)

I'll end up re-doing these when I get into the new place. I fully expect to have to re-learn how to record that piano in the new studio anyway, so it'll be great practice, and lots of fun!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top