Recording Piano

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A1A2

A1A2

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This is a work-in-progress

I did a quick piano recording practice to see how it turns out. Too bad I don't have access to studio monitors at this moment, so I was wondering if you guys can tell me if it's too boomy or lacking highs.

It's an upright piano, and I didn't lift open the top this time. Please let me know if there is anything I should be aware of (besides the performance for now)

Thanks in advance

http://www.nowhereradio.com/a1a2/singles

"Piano Test"

Al
 
this is kinda a performance issue...but be aware that leaving your foot on the sustain pedal will sound...just like that... Like you are leaving your foot on the sustain pedal.

You can get great results mic'ing an upright from the backside if you can get your piano away from the wall, if it already isn't.

some of the bigger "student" pianos actually have a soundboard starting to get in the same size as those 'lil baby grands you see in peoples' houses that never play them...

Sounds pretty realistic (as compared to a synth,of course).. needs a decent tuning and that sustain pedal of course......
 
hey,

sounds very highy endy and twangy.

i feel your pain tho cos i tried this once with almost the same result.

Good for honkytonk - thats about it!

I dont dig the actual piano sound either - is it a cheap or exxy one??

tune is nice tho!

y
 
mixmkr,

Thanks for listening. I really struggled with the sustain pedal. Firstable, it makes a noticeable noise when released, second, I have hard time releasing it without having the song "drop out" for a split second. That's why I decided I might as well hold on to it as long as I can....the use of reverb probably did more harm than good, too.

About away from the wall, I could probably make several inches of air space, but is that gonna help? The mics would have to be real close to the soundboard.

yiordanaki,

you mean sounding too sharp, right? Thanks for confirming this with me. It sounded very sharp on my headphones, but then somewhat boomy on my home stereo. So, I really didn't know which one to believe. Is there a usual lowcut starting point for pianos?

Thanks a million, guys!!

Al
 
Oooooooooooooo, a real piano........oooooooooooooooo! :)

I don't care about the mix. This is great to listen to. Period. You don't hear a real piano that often on this board. Actually, I've heard more real drums than real piano's...

I really like your, whatchamacallit, 'harmonic spectrum' A1A2. Always puts me in a nice melancholic mood.
 
I dont know beans about micing a piano other than watching it done. This aint to bad for a home upright. A little too ambient for me with the verb and sustain and top end is a little too biting, but it still has a real nice tone. The presentation is cool. I`d love playing Ped`s bass along on this one ;)
 
Toki987 said:
. I`d love playing Ped`s bass along on this one ;)
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I'm having a bit of a writer's block at the moment, so I'm in for every type of collaboration... :)
 
Pedullist said:
I'm having a bit of a writer's block at the moment, so I'm in for every type of collaboration... :)
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what's Ped's bass?:confused: whatever it is, sounds good to me:)

Pedullist, a collaboration sounds like fun (if I get over with MY writer's block on this tune:p ) but the thing is I'm in Taiwan right now, so, sending CDs back and forth is gonna be a real pain in the butt. I will try to get the basic structure of this tune done, and if you still wanna do something with it by then, you are in!

Toki987

what do you mean by the highs are bitting? as in hurting your ears or lacking highs?

Thanks for all comments

Al
 
A1A2 said:


Toki987

what do you mean by the highs are bitting? as in hurting your ears or lacking highs?

Thanks for all comments

Al
Click to expand...

They seemed a bit too dominant and ringing to me.
 
A1A2 said:
what's Ped's bass?:confused: whatever it is, sounds good to me:)
Click to expand...

Pedullist, abbreviated: Ped...and I play bass. Get it?

PM me when you're ready...I would be delighted to add something to your song (any of your songs btw) :)

[edit](by now I've noodled around with your song enough to say: yep, I can do something nice with this)[/edit]
 
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Yeh very honky sound which is typical of uprights.
It's a very ambient sound which might be what you are going for.
Personally would like a little more in your face sound.(less sustain pedal?)

The high's aren't really biting but more overbearing due to the honky tonk sound. Can't do much about that.

It really sounds like a saloon cowboy type piano.

Check out this site for micing tips: http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/pages/Piano.htm

By the way, what happened to your monitors? It thought you had Tannoy Reveals??

Tukkis:D
 
A real piano, with wood and strings and stuff? How bizarre.

I think it sounds pretty darn cool, especially when the drums and tremolo type sounds come in (even though they are fake :mad: .

I like the ambience (other than the overuse of the sustain pedal). There's an excitement there that's lacking in samples. When I heard Ben Folds first CD, I noticed the excitement in the piano. Made me totally bummed out cuz I am always using samples :(.

I've got an upright, but it's a million times worse than yours (really out of tune with broken keys). I've tried to mic it, always sounds useless. How did you do it? What mics, where, into what?

macle

ps-How come you're not relaxing, drinking beer in the Taiwanese sun? :)
 
don't shoot me

you're only the piano player.
sounds very real, honky tonk westwern movieish.
I like the song as well. You hear so much keyboard created sound but so very little of the instrument that started it all.
 
Pedullist:

Got cha. I will let you know as soon as I come up with something worthwhile.

Tukkis

Thanks for that link, will study it before I try tracking again.
I'm on vacation in Taiwan right now, so, all I have is 2 mics, mixer, and my soundcard with me :(

Macle
How's goin', man? Is Max comfortable with playing bassby now? I do drink beer and relax here, but I have access to a pretty fancy studio here in Taiwan (although it's a 2hr drive), so, there is no way I will let that slide:) and this was only a rough to test the piano sound, I will certainly add some real drums, elec guitar and so on once I have the piano straightened out. I am real excited about this lilo project.

About mic'in it, I had no idea what to do, so I put up my only 2 condensors, AT4041 on the right, and SP C1 on left side of the piano, and adjust until the highs weren't killing my ears on headphones:p
I am going to try Mixmkr's suggestion and mic the soundboard from rear.

you all have a good day!

Al
 
Re: don't shoot me

HevyD47Ca said:
You hear so much keyboard created sound but so very little of the instrument that started it all.
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which instrument that started it all are you speaking of:confused: This is the first song I've ever written with piano only, so, does count as started it all?? BTW, I am by no means a piano player,unfortuanately. I just hit chords..... :(

I have an image of Great Gig in the Sky (or Us and Them) for this tune, does that sound less piano dominant if that's what you meant....

Al
 
the further back you get from the piano, the less peaks will have to deal with. The piano is an extremely "peaky" instrument to mic..almost more so than drums, actually. However, the further back you get, the less "punch", dynamics and in your face sound you'll get. If you can move the piano...like even turn it around (which I realize isn't the most practical for most situations home pianos are in), and get the mics back at least about a foot or so...and a good 3-4 feet apart...spaced symetrically across the back of the soundboard, you ought to get a fairly representative sound of what that piano sounds like...and a nice stereo spread too(keep in mind your 3:1 rule for mic phasing though...). The problem with just moving the piano out from the wall is that you will probably get a great deal of sound coming reflected off the wall back into the mics. Off axis or not, it will still contribute a pretty large amount to the sound coming into the mics. So..realize if using budget mics, they might not have the greatest off axis response as compared to that a KM184 or some AKG451's and will make it tough to get a good 'even' [frequency-wise] sound.

Some people have luck opening up the top...or even taking the front off, but then you tend to get a lot of hammer, damper sounds, etc. Mic'ing from the back will really be the best. Incidently, I am no piano tuning expert by any long shot, but it appears a couple quick "nudges" on just a couple offending notes might get rid of a lot of the "cowboy saloon" sound someone else alluded to...unless you like that honky tonk kinda sound. It sounded like just several notes where more outta tune with itself (the multiple strings on one note), versas being out of tune across the board. It probably needs a general tune up I would think, but a "touch up" might help a lot. I believe the Lt. is the pro to ask, and could probably hear that stuff right off the bat and give you those answers best however.

oh..rereading your additional posts... your AT and SP mics, although not matched, ought to work out ok for your situation. Whichever mic you think details the high end better, I would put on that side of the piano.
 
dude, take your foot off the sustain pedal :).

other than that, i think the piano sounds pretty good. needs a tuning but sounds pretty good.
 
mixmkr

thank you for all the information and typing!! yeah, I was a little worried about moving the piano away from the wall would cause some serious reflection between the soundboard of the piano and the wall, but experiments wouldn't hurt. I will definitely play with that, and of course I will get it tuned before I track it for the final mix.

As for opening the top, it sounded alot brighter when opened, and I still haven't gotten a vision for the right tone for this particular song yet. A darker tone is probably better since there will be electric guitar and drums in the song.


Can someone explain "cowboy saloon" and "honky tonk" please? I am guessing honky tonk is the bright tone, but cowboy saloon?:confused:

again, thanks a million

Al
 
A1A2 said:
mixmkr



Can someone explain "cowboy saloon" and "honky tonk" please? I am guessing honky tonk is the bright tone, but cowboy saloon?:confused:

again, thanks a million

Al
Click to expand...


usually 'honky tonk' = out of tune imo. if it's a saloon piano, it just has rings on it from beer mugs sitting on it too long :)
 
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