Classical music recording ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter cain2k
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cain2k

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Hi,

I want to record some live classical music from a grand piano. After searching the web, I got a Zoom H2N recorder (very low budget).

Two questions about recording a live grand piano:

1) What is the best position for the recorder ?

a) church_guide_fig_eps_12.webp

or

b)pianofig1.l.webp

2) Better to use the X/Y mics or Mid-Size mics of the recorder, 2 or 4 channels ?

Thanks !
 
I live in Ft Worth, which every 4 years hosts the Van Cliburn piano competition. The last time they showed some of the prelims on our local PBS station, I was paying attention to how they were micing the piano.

They used a two-mic technique that looked like it was a combination of the two diagrams you showed. One mic was inside the piano, just over the metal harp section which the strings are strung along, slightly to the treble side of center. The other mic was outside perhaps 10 feet away, getting a reflected sound off the raised lid of the grand.

Try the zoom in both positions and see which one you like better.
 
I'd choose B if I was in a nice soft practice room, and A in a big hall with a lot of room reflection. A little natural reverb can be OK, but often the echo-chamber qualities of a big hall sound good live, but are a pain to manage when recording. My best advice- listen to the room.
 
I'm with Richard Monroe on this one--it all depends on what the room sounds like.

I've used everything from a couple of SDCs on a bar inside the lid on a short stick to something like your position B. Ideally you'd have a room suitable to back off a bit--I think the piano sounds better not miked too closely--but it's pretty hard to control the room on an instrument as big as a grand!
 
"B" is what I would use for a classical piano recital.

I record solo piano a lot and my "go to" method is a pair of SDC omni mics, about 20cm apart about 2m from the piano at about ear height (very much like dia.B).
 
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