Recording Piano and Voice at the same time

alexvdbroek

alexvdbroek

New member
Hi all,

I will be recording a vocal and piano track at the same time. I only have an MBOX with 2 inputs, so what is the best way to do this? I really would prefer to have the singer play as she sings as this will get the best performance from her.

So, obviously that leaves one mic for the voice. Where would be the best place to put the second mic? should it be a condensor or dynamic? I think I can borrow a stereo condensor, is this a good idea?

Another good thing I have got is that the recoding space is an excellent room. Its a concert room with wooden walls, curtains, carpet floor but wood under the piano etc.
 
Which Mbox?

If its the Mbox2, there is s/pdif on the back and you can put a 2-channel
preamp with s/pdif outs on it (art dps 2, there are others if you go looking),
giving you >four< input channels....

A stereo condensor wont help you, it'll still take 2 channels (you cant cheat on i/o)
 
Great!
So now I have another question as well as my original ones...
What sort of mic?
And how do I use the SPDIF to have more channels?

Thanks
 
I don't think where to stick the second mic is the issue... it's where to stick the first mic.

Hard to get too specific without knowing the style of music that's being played, but pianos can be very loud and if you just shove a mic in front of your player that she can sing into it's going to pick up a hell of a lot of the piano.

Encourage your player to learn the discipline of being able to do the two things separately and you'll get a much better result.

If she can't do that, then good luck, I hope she's completely in control of her instrument and voice in terms of volume because I fear you'll end up with a mess.

Darrin h's suggestion is a good one...
 
Using a Midi Piano is out of the question, why would I when I have a great room and piano to record on? If I was going to use a fake piano I will use my Nord Stage which is better than any midi piano.

She is an excellent singer, and will be singing jazz/pop/soul.

She will use a dynamic mic close to her mouth.
 
There are plenty of reasons to use a MIDI piano. Just because you have a good room doesn't mean you'll get good results. The very fact that you are asking what type of mic to use means you've never really done it and had results you liked.

If she's gung ho about singing and playing at the same time I would suggest getting more intputs. If it's just voice and piano, you don't want them both dead center and with only one mic on the piano, that's what you'll get.

Really if you are going for the best sound, you'll want 2 mics on the piano. If you can't do that, I'd go MIDI piano. If you can't do that, as a last resort you can stick one mic on the piano, but it's just not going to sound that great.
 
Ok, let's split the difference.

Run a one mic setup to catch a scratch track that will establish the feel and spontanaity of her "live" performance. Then you can go back and record the piano part using two mics. Once the piano part has been recorded (based around her live take and retaining the enegry of it) it will be much easier for her to get an excellent vocal performance. No it's not live but the "scratch" track will give it vibe and enegry.
 
The other thing you could try is, if she's really in control of her volume, is a direct stereo recording of both piano and voice at the same time with a matched pair... worth thinking about.
 
alexvdbroek said:
Using a Midi Piano is out of the question, why would I when I have a great room and piano to record on? If I was going to use a fake piano I will use my Nord Stage which is better than any midi piano.

She is an excellent singer, and will be singing jazz/pop/soul.

She will use a dynamic mic close to her mouth.
Click to expand...

You probably will not want to use a dynamic mic. Stick a condenser by her as well as the piano.
 
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