Large Diaphragm Mic vs Upright Piano

[Skrie]

I was wondering,

If I put a Large Diaphragm microphone (in this case, the sE Electronics X1)
close to the strings of my upright piano, can this hurt the microphone?

And with close I mean: about 7-10 Centimeter close.

I did this with my smaller condensers, and they seemed fine...
I was just wondering if a large diaphragm is more sensitive to damage.

 

[Armistice]

Should be fine.. they should all be capable of higher SPL than a piano can deliver..

 

[Bobbsy]

No problem for the mic--but being that close to the strings will result in a very strange piano sound...loud on the strings you're close to and practically nothing from frequencies above and below the point you're miking.

 

[Skrie]

Should be fine.. they should all be capable of higher SPL than a piano can deliver..

Thx, I can now try it and not hold back on it.

No problem for the mic--but being that close to the strings will result in a very strange piano sound...loud on the strings you're close to and practically nothing from frequencies above and below the point you're miking.

That's fine, I'm going for a more direct sound. I did the same with a pensil mic and I loved it. It's got some kind of Beatles / John Lennon quality to it. It doesn't sound much like piano... but it's still got some nice quality to it.

Also, my piano has a pretty dull sound to it. I'm trying to get some more highs out of it by micing the upper right corner. Then i don't have to EQ it too much.

 

[witzendoz]

Use 2 mics, the pencil at the high end and the large condenser at the low end. However my usual way of micing an upright is to mic from behind with 2 spaced large condensers, but I like the old woody sound.

Alan.