Tracking an upright piano, any helpers?

[Pro Tooler]

I'm about to record an upright piano... i have never done it before. has anybody got any suggestions?.. compressions, eq's, mic and mic placement.

 

[peritus]

Not trying to be rude... But, I found better advice than I could give here...

Good luck and let us know how things went...

 

[Hugo H]

Try these, they're good:
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/pages/Piano.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/oct94/pianomiking.html

 

[doghousenyc]

just browsing this thread. better late than never...
I have an article on this here: http://www.doghousenyc.com/feedback/upright.php

 

[gcapel]

I believe your room will determine mic placement. Small condenser pair will give you a more true clear reflection of the piano. A large diaphram will tend to color your sound a little more. It boils down to personal preference. The better treated room the better. Mic placement like always will be a trial and error thing depending on your room.

Sounds like fun to me

 

[Mikendher]

Small condenser mics is definitely the way to go. If the piano is the main instrument, use two mics (panned left & right). If not, use just one mic. Move the mics around the piano until you find the "sweet spots" where it sounds really good. For me, one reliable place is usually about 5 feet off the ground facing the front of the piano and pointing at the highest key. This prevents the undesirable keystriking sound from being too prominent, and gets an accurate signal (move the mic backwards if you are getting too much low end).

 

[littledog]

Uprights are much harder to close mic than grands with condensers. And mic'ing from any distance can be a problem if you are also trying to record other instruments in the same room.

To solve this, I've had very good luck with PZM microphones on uprights, taped to the soundboard on the back of the piano. It's very easy to get good isolation with them - just throw some heavy blankets over the back of the piano. Very clean sound, although it's important to play around with exact placement for optimal results.

 

[Beck]

I've had great results with PZMs as well... better than with anything else.

From a full-size Steinway grand to little yamaha uprights and two older Radio Shack PZMs (made by Crown), which I hacked up and moded to operate @ 18 VDC years ago. They do an outstanding job.

Steinway: Taped on inside of lid facing soundboard.
Uprights: Taped on wall facing soundboard or on 3x3 ft. section of sanded & painted plywood to temper low freq vibrations.

~Tim

 

[EleKtriKaz]

Small diaphragm condensors in ORTF a few feet back. You didn't specifiy which mics you had available to you but SM81s, KM84s, C451s, MC012s would all be good choices.

 

[Brackish]

I've had alright success miking in mono with
an omni small-diaphragm condenser a few
feet off the back of the soundboard, with
the piano having a closed lid.
Pianos can't really handle compression
so I go uncompressed for the most
natural sound.

 

[bigtoe]

i miced the one at my house last night with a B+K 4011 about 20 feet in front. totally tom waits. bonus: it was raining outside, we opened the windows and got that on the track too.

any small diaphragm would do...as would that pzm! i need to pick one of those up!

MIke