Coldplay Micing Setup??????!!

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MusicMan91

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Hi. I am using a Fostex MR-8 8 Track Digital Recorder, and am wondering what mics and what mic positioning on my Baldwin Baby Grand piano can give me the warmth and depth and overall musical feeling like in the beginning of the song Clocks by Coldplay. Any Ideas anyone??
 
First off, I am a newbie at all of this. By XY, you mean???????
And by room mic, you mean a mic placed a ways away from the piano to pick up reverb? In the Microphone forum, under the title Secret BLUE microphone, I asked them and they said the two XY mic's should be placed 6-8 feet from the piano, and that they should be two small Omni Condenser mics. Is this what Coldplay used, and would the room mic be placed even further away then??

Thanks.
 
Actually, the best place to go to find this kind of stuff out is a place called prosoundweb.com. Go there and register for the "recpit." From there, go to Mixerman's forum, and ask about the whole coldplay thing. I'm almost certain someone there will jump at the chance to help you out.

Good luck.
 
chessrock said:
Actually, the best place to go to find this kind of stuff out is a place called prosoundweb.com. Go there and register for the "recpit." From there, go to Mixerman's forum, and ask about the whole coldplay thing. I'm almost certain someone there will jump at the chance to help you out.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Sounds a bit extreme to me!
 
Actually, the best place to go to find this kind of stuff out is a place called prosoundweb.com. Go there and register for the "recpit." From there, go to Mixerman's forum, and ask about the whole coldplay thing. I'm almost certain someone there will jump at the chance to help you out.

Good luck.

ACTUALLY - Be very careful not to piss off anybody at the recpit or you'll become Satan's little helper in HELL!!!

Carlos
 
MusicMan-

I sense a little sarcasm comin from chessrock- hi chess, how are ya- so i'll fill ya in- i think his point was that there are soooo very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, many variable in recordin that, even if cold play set up the same config as they used the first time it may not sound quite the same- AND.. a big act like that, that goes to a big fancy studio uses equipment, the costs of which exceeed many home owners mortgage many times over, not to mention skilled and seasoned engineers and musicians (the quality of your playing is also a factor of course)... well you get the point

...but fret not. all is not hopeless. with a couple decent mics and alot of experimentation, im sure you can get a piano sound you dig- but its not gonna be an exact replica of coldplay or anyone else. start recordin some stuff and listen to it. then listen to somethin you like as a comparison. listen for tonal qualities, room ambience etc. experiment, enjoy, learn. there are no recipies for success, only failier. try-fail-repeat until you succeed

ive never heard coldplay, but where i would start, is the x-y thing- 2 mics 6-8 feet away (in this instance- that can vary from 1 foot to 30 feet) from the source plug em in and record- that will capture the piano and the natural ambience of the room

try and experiment- there is no right answer- only what sounds good, better and worse. oh, and hang around here for a while- lots to be learned here, but be warned, as carlos said about recpit- the same goes for around here

-jeff
 
I apologize for the razzing, Musicman.

It's just that you have to consider that most of us are home recordists with varying degrees of limited expertise and humble recording backgrounds. It's not like any of us "hang out" with the guys from coldplay, shoot the shit, and talk about how they mic'ed their piano on a song. And even if we did, it's not likely we'd be instant messaging these guys so we could get back with someone on an internet board about it.

The best you can hope for is to be on the lookout for some of the recording magazines . . . EQ, Mix, etc. Sometimes they have interviews and that sort of thing, and sometimes the subject of micing techniques on a particular song might even pop up. But it's not one of those things where someone maintains a searchable database of all tracking notes ever made, for public knowlege.

That would be cool, though, if they did. :D

One thing I can tell you is that in Chicago, if you should ever run in to any of the locals . . . Billy Corgan, the guys from Wilco, and/or many others, it's not considered tabboo to go up to them and talk gear. Most of these guys love to talk gear, from what I've been told. They just don't like it when people jump all over them and go "I love your stuff! You're the greatest, man, I'm a huge fan!" and crap like that.

Can't say I've ever talked to any of the Chicagoans, but I did talk with the lead singer of the Cardigans once, after a show. Very nice, and yes, a gear head. And hot.

Maybe you could follow them around or something and pretend to bump in to them and talk about recording sometime.
 
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