Mic'ing a Steinway baby grand

  • Thread starter Thread starter Evildick
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Roel said:
Michael, what do you think about the ECM8000's for micing a piano?
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I have tried the ECM8000's on grand piano, and they worked....ok.
I think if you could take the lid off completely, and position the mics above the harp, and were judicious with placement, the results could be very nice!
Unfortunately, I can't take the lid off mine, too big for one person to do, and I really don't have the room to do that.
But this is what I came up with using theECM8000's
Compare that to the SM81's
The TLM 103's
And finally the V67
My mic of choice for this app is of course the TLM 103's. But these samples will give you some idea of what to expect with the different mics I have, and was able to do tests with.
Given those choices, listen to the TLM's first. Notice the clarity and definition across the scale and across ALL of the octaves?

Then listen to the SM81's. A very fine mic in its own right, but notice the definition beginning to fall out in the lower frequences? I find that is typical of small dia. condensers.

The ECM8000's did an acceptable job, and given more time to experiment with these mics, I wouldn't hesitate to use them in this app.

Finally, the V67. I was sorely dissappointed in this mic on this app. I don't really think it's use is geared not towards instruments, but rather vocals.

Hope that helps some?
I'm off to post some comments on your piece in the clinic.:)
 
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er, um - I tried all three and came up with the following error in all three cases:

"Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, root@localhost and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log."

Bummer - now we'll never know...

Must dash - gotta do some errands!

- Wil
 
Actually it is a misconception that small diaphragm mics in general can't reproduce low end. In fact, as a group, they have a more accurate reproduction of lower frequencies than large diaphragm condensers (as a group). What you may not be getting, though, is a low mid presence peak that many large diaphragm mics will add.

This is not to say that "accuracy" is always best, of course. When we talk about any piece of gear adding "color" to the sound, we are really talking about inaccuracy - which is a polite word for distortion. It's just that some kinds of distortion are extremely musical and thus desireable!
 
I think a common misconception about Omni mics is that since they pick up in all directions people assume that mic placement doesnt really matter that much. They seem to think since it picks up everything it will pick up the same sound anywhere in the room.

The opposite is really the case. Especially in a small room. Placement of an Omni closer to walls will change the reflections that it picks up and make it boomy or add phase problems.

I like to use Omni's like a Macro lense on a camera. You can get them right where you want them and you dont have the proximity effect to worry about. I have mainly been using them on guitar and I really like putting one as close to the neck as I can get it then mixing that with a LD farther out over the bridge.

I bet putting 3 or 4 omnis very close across the strings would get a pretty interesting sound. You would have a lot to play with in the mix if you wanted to add some interesting stereo and depth effects. A LD over the bass would take care of that. I dont have a piano to play with now so for all I know it might actually sound like shit.

Those TLM's do sound pretty good, though. Is that your studio on the web site? Nice setup.
 
TexRoadkill said:
Is that your studio on the web site? Nice setup.
Click to expand...
Yeah, thats me.
I agree whole heartedly with you on the use of multiple omni mics.
 
Micheal...that clip you posted of the v67. Why is it so much quieter than the rest. When I turned it up it didn't sound too bad. Maybe a little more mellow sounding. Was that a pair? I remember the tests you did with the ECM8000 and TLM103. But I was very surprised by the SM81, they sounded great birght and accurate sounding with vey nice stereo imaging. I was wondering if you had a pair of mxl603's to compare them against. Personally I thought all those piano sounds were nice. But I guess it would depend on the sound you were looking for.

Beezoboy
 
I'm not sure why it's quiter, I'll have to go back to it and check the levels. The V67 was a single mic, duped to another track and panned for stereo.
The SM81's are great mics. I like 'em a lot! So much that I bought 2. :)
But I can notice a decline in detail in the lower end. "littledog" posted a comment here that maybe it is not a decline in the lower end, but rather a lack of presence in the low mids. Could be.
But I tend to hear a loss of detail there.
I don't have a pair of the mxl603's. I'd like to pick up a pair though, just to have.
I'm looking for a sound that is non-distorted, clean, faithful to the source with high definition across the audio spectrum! Thats not asking for much is it? :p
Thanks for listening!
 
Even the term "Omni" can be misleading. I once assumed that Omni meant a pick-up pattern that was the same in all directions. In fact, it is frequency dependent. Higher frequencies WILL have some directionality - in other words, it DOES matter which way you point it. The acoustic shadow of the mic body can also have some effect.
 
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