Mixing piano

[Fed]

Hello,
I'm new to the forum and it's a little unclear as to how to post/formulate a good question so it would be answered (it seems the best way is to offend somebody ) but I'm going to try.

My wife has written some original song. We used to play them with just two of us, she plays piano and I'm on acc. guitar.
I'm trying to arrange them for recording and trying to add bass and drums, some el. guitar etc. I made a demo for the drummer
and we borrowed v-drums to do some drum tracks. The demo was done with acc guitar and kurzwile sp88 piano sounds and my wife sang. When we recorded the drums it became obvious that piano takes to much of the spectrum (I've been reading this forum a little )

So the question is finally is what are some suggestions for mixing piano parts? Can I have "lush" piano part and leave enough room for other stuff or the part needs to change. I know there is no substitute for experimenting and I intend to do it and listen to some music done with piano (more suggestions???). But if anyone has advice or would like to share his her experience that would be great.
Sorry if this is to long and blurry or inappropriate to ask. I could also post an example of the music if you are interested.

Thanks

 

[TexRoadkill]

More often than not, lush solo acoustic sounds will not mix well. Especially with full range instruments like piano and guitar.

You have 2 options for carving out a space. Voicing and EQ.

You can try some different arrangements and see if a more simple part or different chord voicings fit better or you can cut out some of the lows and low mids. You may have to cut the lows either way and this is very common.

On acoustic guitar cutting below 100hz is common. Piano would probably benefit from the same if the bass is just too much. Also be sure there is some mid range room for the vocals. You may have to carve some space there also.

 

[Fed]

Thanks for your reply (Hey newbies! I got a reply!!! )
There seems to be two different threads (he-he) of thought here on the forum some say you have to record the right sound from the begining and almost don't use EQ others say Spectral Analizer and carving. There is probably room for both and everything in between but it still sounds like a good subject for discusison .

I did try rolling off Low end on the piano and it helps to clear things up. Also if piano is in the mix is it usualy centered?