Having been a recording engineer for many years I would like to offer this advice on micing techniques. The choice of mic is always a good place to start. What you are looking for first is the desirability of that mics frequency response. In other words, do you like the way it colors the sound it is picking up. Flatter is not always better. Second, consider the pattern in which the mic will pick up sound. Omni, directional, figure 8 etc. The environment should be your guide in selecting pattern. FWIW, the PZM mic is NOT directional. When placed properly it has a somewhat non-directional hemispherical pattern and is designed to pick up everything in the environment. A pair of PZM mics are great if you want to make a stereo recording of an entire performance where the environment plays a big part of the sound. Like a play or an acoustical performance with a number of musicians. You place a pair of them on the floor in front of the performers a couple feet apart and you press record. In recording a piano you need a microphone that not only has a wide frequency response but also one that will handle the dynamic range. Any decent high quality condenser mic should work. But remember that just because it's "flat" or expensive doesn't mean it's going to sound the best. The one you actually use really winds up being personal choice. Regardless of graphed frequency response or cost. Again, what's important is deciding which one captures the sound in a way that is most pleasing to YOUR ear. TIP #1: Borrow or rent mics until you find ones that you like. Then do an ebay search to buy. They'll be there. Now, on to placement. If you are in a studio environment you are going to mic it differently than if you are in a performance environment. A lot of the "science" of mic placement is pretty much understanding what mic, where, in which environment. After that, most good recording engineers will tell you that mic placement is a process of listening. Basically, you get the artist to sit and play and then you stand in front of them and/or the instrument and you simply move your listening position until you find the spot where is sounds like what you want to record. Then you put your mic(s) right there. If you go back into the control room and find yourself doing extensive EQ in order to get the sound right you've miced it in the wrong position. Go out and move the mic. Micing an instrument, even for the experienced engineer, still relies on at least a little trial and error. Every instrument sounds different and projects differently. Experiment. TIP #2: If you place your mics too far apart relative to their distance from the instrument you will wind up with a stereo image that is missing the center. If you place your mics too close together relative to their distance from the instrument you will wind up with a stereo image with insufficient left/right definition. Again, experiment. Capturing that sound digitally requires good A/D converters and a stable clock in order to keep the recording clean and reduce distortion. At least 44.1 Hhz sampling. and don't rely on headphones when making quality decisions. Having those little tiny speakers so close to your ears may sound great but it's not really what's going down. Get some decent speakers and learn them. Geoff Sykes Assoc. Los Angeles -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of J. Brandon Robertson Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 7:43 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org; ricbrek@broadpark.no Subject: Piano recording--sort of long Ric, The Earthworks mics are great and will be the most precise...but probably not recommended if you want to do it cheaply. If your intention is only to record some examples of pretty good quality, you don't have to spend that much. If you want truly excellent quality, get them. A recording made with your built-in laptop microphone will probably sound closer to hearing the piano over the telephone than just about any external mic you can get. Boundary mics are good if you will always have something to put them on. Also, check out the miniature omni condenser mics from core-sound.com. They can handle the high SPL of a piano very well. You can always find places to clip them inside the piano for a dry sound, affected little by the room you are in (helpful if you just want the sound of the piano or maybe a dry jazz piano sound, but not a good technique for classical or other music). As far as mic positioning goes, you will have to experiment. Any recording engineer will tell you that the science of mic placement only gets you so far, and beyond that you have to use your ears. Sometimes moving the mics a couple of inches will change the sound dramatically. Michael G.'s suggestion for placement is a good starting point. Sometimes I find that moving them to the right of the curve, toward the bass strings (still about 6 feet away), gives a more balanced sound. Sometimes the dampers and the room are both so noisy that you'll have to mic from underneath the soundboard...as a last resort, IMO. All of this advice would be different if you were talking about recording classical music complete with the reverb of the room, fully developed sound, etc., but for what I think you are wanting to do (just record the sound of a piano for others to hear and help diagnose problems) this should work well. Also, check out Audacity for pretty good free audio editing software. Start, like Doug said, with a good sample rate (44.1khz is CD quality) and compress to mp3 later for posting to the list. I hope that's helpful. Take care, Brandon Robertson _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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