Jan 20, 2005 02:15 pm both are nice. you shouldnt bother much. to get a decent piano sound you must only use two good large D condensers and find the piano's sweet spots. this may sound like a simplist answer but it is the mere truth.
Condenser mic for recording pianos
Posted on Jan 20, 2005 12:31 pm
WilliamsJ
Member Since: Jan 20, 2005
Hi all,
I am excited but very worried to buy my first 2 mic for setting up my humble home studio. They are used to record an upright or a grand piano. I don´t want the mic coloring the sound so much. It should be as "neutral" as possible. However, due to my limited budget, my shortlist is either Rode NT1000 or AKG C4000B. Which one is better? Or any further suggestions?
Thanks a lot!
- Williams
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Jan 20, 2005 02:15 pm both are nice. you shouldnt bother much. to get a decent piano sound you must only use two good large D condensers and find the piano's sweet spots. this may sound like a simplist answer but it is the mere truth.
Jan 20, 2005 02:25 pm Haven't tried the rode, but i have a 4000 and would recommend a pair for that sort of application. Like bruno said, it's all about the sweet spot, i think there's a recent thread about recording grand pianos on the akg forum for starters.
Jan 21, 2005 01:38 am akg is famous for making condensers perfect for the piano. but someone who knew exactly where to place the mics could get a better sound with a cheapo cond mic than someone who didn't know where to place the mics with akgs. so read up on it. but akg for piano, rode is best for vocal.
Jan 21, 2005 07:42 am Thanks for your advices! It seems that finding the sweet spot is like a magic! I have read some books published by MIX on microphone techniques but they just suggest several positions. Any resource to teach me how to find the sweet spot for an upright piano? Moreover, does anyone try Rode NT1000?
Jan 21, 2005 10:19 am I'd have to go with the 'trust your ears' mentality. Plug the mics into a board, and listen to them on headphones while someone moves the mics around and someone plays. This would be my choice, though probably labor intensive if you're a one-person operation. I'm also thinking that people have written doc on this, if you googled for 'recording piano'.
Jan 21, 2005 10:22 am oh yeah, if you're using two mics, then you may get phase cancellation if they're different distances from the strings. This may be difficult to sort out, or not much of a problem, but something to be aware of. I'm sure others have overcome this obstacle, so there's probably something written up on it.
You may want to go with one close, and one distant to get a room reverb, or use two close and a third distant for the reverb.
<just thinking out loud here>
Jan 21, 2005 06:08 pm i got an awesome sound with an sm57 recently...just for reference...
Jan 22, 2005 11:24 am I believe the experiments should be full of fun if I don't get tired of :P
Because of poor room acoustics, I am thinking of using two close and removing both the top and front lids. Does it work? Morever, the songs almost span the entire range of the keyboard. Do I need to add more mic to capture all the sounds?
Jan 22, 2005 12:01 pm I should put it clear - using two close and removing both the top and front lids of my upright piano.
Jan 28, 2005 11:11 pm W J, I used to do about the same with my old upright. Only differance is I would open the top, not remove it. Then used a pair of small diaphram condensors in a crossed pattern to avoid any phasing, and keep the stereo image real tight.
Jan 29, 2005 12:59 pm I've used 2 Shure sm81 mics spaced above and about 6 inches behind the hammers and then an AKG c414 below the soundboard at the rear and achieved great tone and image. good luck
Jan 30, 2005 11:44 am A big thanks to all of you. I will try different settings. I also find the Shure educational materials very useful www.shure.com/booklets/techpubs.html
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