Micing a piano...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Strat Man
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Strat Man

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I guess this belongs here, where else?!? I've got an upright piano which i wanna do some recording off with my 4-track. How would I mic it?
 
use some lovely condensors! i use a pair of U87's and then a C414 in the back of the room for the ambience. it's beautiful! just grab some nice condensors and put them where it sounds good. there's quite a lot of ways to mic up pianos.
 
Since he probably doesn't have a neumann lying around to record onto his 4 track, or phantom power. Heres what I like. I like pzms. I take 2, get 2 pieces of plexi glass place one over the bass one over the highs. They are like $50 on ebay. Great sound for very litte $$. Gentleman who recorded Bette Midler showed me that! Good stuff!
 
hehe, sorry, i totally forgot he was using a 4 track. pzm's produce interesting sounds if kept on the back of an amp, especially like a 4x12 cab.
 
Wally, are you talking about opening the top and laying the plexiglass over it with the PZM's on top of the plexiglass?
 
Yes the top opened and pzm glued on the bottom, in the center. The plexi glass acts as a hard surface so you don't have to worry about reflections inside the piano and get a really clean sound!
 
So, the PZM inside the "chamber", so to speak? Interesting idea!

I'll add a technique I used once, with interesting results.
Hung a mic from the ceiling above the piano and gave it a push so it swang (is that a word?) back and forth over the top while taping (watch the wall!). Gave some variance to the tone and volume, almost a Leslie effect but much more subtle (is that spelled right?). Can also be done in front of an amp...
 
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