phase issues with THREE mics

[lilcapn]

hey i'm micing a piano with 2 sd's, one on either end pointed at the strings (i took the front off) and one ld back and up a few feet, in the middle.

i don't know much about phase issues, though i've dealt with phase problems a bit when using two mics on a guitar amp, or stereo mics on a drum kit.

with THREE mics, if you work to get the pair of sd's so they sound OK, is there a chance that the third mic will cause problems? any tricks to dealing with this? do they all need to be X distance from a certain center point or something?

thanks, i'm kinda clueless about this stuff...

 

[DanielJohn]

Did you pan the mic's on the side to hard left and hard right?
Just a thought...
-DAN

 

[Track Rat]

Just an idea but I wouldn't mic a piano from the extreme sides but would do something more like an X-Y set up. Not so much for phase issues (although this would go a long way towards correcting any) but more for a more natural sounding piano. When you listen to a recording of piano, you don't have all the lower register on one side and all the high end on the other.

 

[lilcapn]

panning etc

hmmm x/y might be something to try -- i've never done that. right now i've got the pro37r's spread out, pointed at the strings with the front off the piano, but both kind of pointed in towards the middle. C1 out back a few feet; it sounds pretty good, i've got them panned at about 9 & 3 o'clock, not all the way out.

for the x/y set up, it seems like the mics would either have to be further away from the piano, or they'd be getting in the way (if i had them as close as i can have them now with them being out to the sides.

thanks for the advice!

 

[Sennheiser]

I agree with Track. That would sound very unatural for a piano, even in stereo.

Best to go with the X/Y stereo setup on the mics. The piano is not supposed to cover all the way from extreme left to right field.

It's not natural.