pianopiece, with little bit distortion...

[Roel]

This is a piano piece by grieg that I recorded last sunday. It's played by a friend (beautifull young girl named charlotte ) on my piano.

It's miced from above with the lid open, using one C3000b to a symmetrix 528e to my VS1880... The mic was about 0.5 meters in front of the piano, 1 meter above it; aimed towards the strings.
Levels were set pretty ok on VS and symmetrix, and still it distorted. Could this have been the mic??

And the recording is pretty dry also. I was thinking; if I bought 2 ECM8000's to mic the piano close, and used the C3000b as a room mic, would it achieve better results? Or mayhbe just use the ECM8000's a little further from the piano?

Any ideas welcome... And enjoy the piece. I really like her playing, but I'm prejudiced...

oh, and the link is now fixed... You can get it here!

 

[Fed]

The link doesn't work for me, will try later

 

[samicide]

bad link..

sam (B.Sabbath)

 

[Roel]

Darn darn darn...

THIS should work. There's a link to a zip file with the mp3 there.

Boy boy. What a mess...

 

[JMarcomb]

Sounds Great!

Its just that the piano is difficult to mic.
Im sure mic preference and micpre's has much to do with it.

Im not an expert in the piano mic'n field, so I wouldnt be of much help. Keep playing around with it, you can only get better.

 

[shackrock]

still bad link to me

 

[samicide]

I'm tryin Roel, I cant get it to play..

I need a play button..

Just so you know, I'm out here tryin' dude..

 

[mixmkr]

in my opinion...don't even think about using a room mic for the piano, and in this recording, the mic is too far away. I think you'd MUCH prefer getting your little condensors, and stick them above the hammers, and separate them. You'll get a much more upfront sound and a stereo spread...presuming that is what you're after. Then you can diddle with the ambience with whatever you like to do...if it is even blending in a room mic from a SEPARATE track. Personally, I think this sound on this recording is pretty poor, and sounds about the same if you just took a mic and had it about 5 meters away pointing in the general direction of the piano. It's pretty room sounding to me...and the mono really sucks for me also. Also, with those omni's, you'll want them fairly close to keep away from the lid reflections, etc.....or just take the damn lid off. Remember the 3 :1 rule, too...

oh...also, the piano is pretty "peaky"...more so than a drum kit, a lot of the times...so watch out there...keep those levels probably lower than you'd think you might need them...providing the noise floor isn't working against you. And don't strap some damn compressor across the buss's either...just keep those levels VERY conservative.

 

[CyanJaguar]

I hate what the vs recorders do to music. Every once in a while, I go to the vsplanet, and every mp3 on their site has this plasticy sound to it. I cant stand it .

Anyhow, I think a piano really needs more than one mic, even if the other one is a 58

This recording needs quite a bit of work.

Nice playing

Funk on!

 

[Roel]

Actually, I tried 2 mics, the C3000b and a small condensor clipon (C419). But the signal the clipon got was very low for some reason. No idea why.... Gotta try it again sometime. Also tried an SM57. Pretty low signal too. (compared to the C3000b) Which is really strange... I'll try again soon.

I miss the stereo thing too. Actually, with the distortion and the boomy mono sound, I think it kinda sounds like some of those very old pianorecordings made in the 40's. hehe Oh well. Hardest thing I ever recorded. Gotta read alot more about it. Most dynamic thing too. I listened above the lid, and it got freakin' loud. Should I have used the mic pad maybe? It gets extremelly quiet too at times...

Anyway. Close micing you suggested? (Was planning the room mic on a seperate channel, btw) Close micing it is. Ordering those omnis today. Then we'll see what gives the best result.

I also have just one good micpre. (Don't like the VS micpres... Use it? On which mic? )

Samicide, the link is to a zip-file, download it, dubble click it, and it should give you the mp3... I guess?

 

[Roel]

Would getting the front of and micing from in front of the piano be a good idea? Just thought of that. Darn. Gotta get that girlie over again soon. And get those mics to experiment with. I need gear. Darn.

 

[samicide]

hey Roel,

recording problems aside, the piece itself was quite cool IMOP.. I liked it.

I like her too.. It's nice hearing a real piano..

later

sam

BTW, If you ever get a chance, check out the piano mutilation I did.. It is not as good, but you might appreciate it.. It's called C# minor..

 

[Roel]

Cool. I'll check it out.

It's pretty strange to see such a sweet little girl making such noise, banging on the piano like that. But it always gets me... *Siiiiiiigh*

She played more pieces, but this, and some romance by an unknown composer really were the best...
Next try I give it, I'll post another piece.

 

[Aren]

Really nice Roel. She plays beautifuly.
It's really nice to hear a real piano. What kind of Piano is it?

I don't really have anything to add about the recording that wasn't already been said. But I'm looking forward to hearing another attempt using the ECMs.

Oren

 

[Roel]

It's a Yamaha U3... I bought it used about 2 months ago, after running around between shops for half a year. It was quite pricey for a used U3; but it's the best U3 I tried, and in excellent condition. Can even easily stand up against most new ones!!

Now I need to get the micing technique right... Working on it...

 

[SalJustSal]

from a different angle.....

I'd also see what you can do about helping your room sound. Setting up sound baffles, bass traps, and whatnot. Those omnis that you are getting are just going to give you more room sound, that's what they are designed to do.

 

[Roel]

Hmmm... I don't think my moms gonna like me rearranging her living room with sound baffles and bass traps... And I wouldn't know where to start. First get the micing right, and then we'll see, I guess...

 

[laj35]

Can't get it to work here at, errr....work. I too am trying to no avail Roel, would really like to hear it too, hmm...maybe at home, hopefully.



Laj

 

[laj35]

Ok, got it to work. I like it, alot. It is kind of a crappy recording though. Not that I'd have the foggiest idea of how to go about micing a piano, seems as though it'd be kinda tough, specially in your mom's house, sheesh. She does play nice, she write this piece??? Good luck figuring out the ins/outs of piano recording, that's light years away for me!!!!


Laj

 

[Roel]

She didn't write the piece. It's one of Grieg's lyrical pieces. I'm just introducing her to the wonderfull world of harmony (and the jazzside of it), so writing something like this is still a long way ahead. Don't know if she's got the ambition of writing at all. Maybe lighter music... Hmm... Gotta ask her about that.

Piano recording really is hard... Compared to the other instruments I recorded. Oh dear. But I'll get it right. I can do it. I'm smart.