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I bought a piano for my studio!


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I have never recorded a piano before. OK, once, but fairly unsuccessfully for a single Jerry Lee type solo. I quickly learned about old upright mechanical noise. I've been in sessions where the Yamaha grand was miked up, but me, myself doing it? For real. Successfully? Nope. Let me backup...

 

I'm working with a Ben Folds style trio. Before basics, I knew his very nice, but still digital piano was not going to cut it. So we'd split the cost of rental for a week. 150 bucks delivered and tuned. The day before delivery I get a mid-day call from my wife, "Get down to the Goodwill Shop now! They've got a very nice piano." I quickly got moving knowing full well the piano would be a pile. They always are. I've been looking for the "steal" for 3 years now. I walk in and there it is. The proverbial studio upright driven by an old lady to church every Sunday for the past 10 years. A 10 year old Shaffer & Sons studio upright in prefect condition. Shaffer & Sons? A quick goole reveals these were made by Young Chang. Hmmm. It sounds perfect. 500 bucks. They sell used for 1700. It sounds fantastic. I convert my 150 rental downpayment into moving and tuning my new purchase, payed for by the recording band thank you.

 

The idea is to record live in my 18' tall room. The room's footfrint is only 12' by 18' feet though and the drums end up being way to close for comfort to the piano. 3 weeks ago I snagged 2 Audio Technica PZMs (eBay), the top of the line $600 a pair model. 75 bucks for both. Score, but wait...

 

...they're cardio PZMs? This might be a problem. The plan of course, is to put the PZMs inside the lower case for isolation. Well, as it turns out, this is the perfect live tracking setup, I kid you not. The cardiods were taped inside, onto the lower board pointing up, as far away from the hammers as possible (Al Schmitt tip). This puts them right at the pedals though doesn't it? But wait! They're cardioid. Perfect.

 

So yesterday, I had a very talented but heavy hitter, bashing his vintage Ludwigs while his very clever band leader / pianist waxed ironic not 6 feet away from him. The SVT was in the bathroom across the house. All three guys were right in each other's faces. Communication was not an issue.

 

The results are 8 clever pop song basics recorded 100% live. We did track to a click (grooving loops actually) and had pre-recorded scratch vocals. The room was picked up by a pair of 414s in Blumlein. The vibe is thick.

 

And I got a piano!!! It been a great weekend. :)

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Today we move the piano into the center of the room and go overdubs. ABBA glissandos, double bass lines, etc. The PZMs will get a rest and we'll dig into the full potential of a piano in a room bouncing off the walls.

 

The plan...

 

414s over his shoulder with the case opened up. Fatheads in Blumlien from across the room and an 87 in Omni in the other room 25' away and around the corner. Tee-hee. Cool.

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Congratulations Lee.

 

As a piano player myself, I have never found a digital piano that equals a good acoustic piano even if it's a humble upright. Just keep that piano at a consistent humidity.

 

Personally, I don't like the sound of the case opened up. A piano case generates resonances that don't sound that great to my ears. I do like to mic an upright from the back, right from the soundboard; or remove the front panel exposing the strings and hammers. Miking from the bottom panel often gets pedal noise.

 

When moving a piano you might need several tunings as the piano settles from the trauma of being moved ;-)

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Congrats Lee!!! I truly miss the upright grand that my mother gave to me when I moved out the first time. I moved the piano to a friend's home during the process of my first divorce and her home burned; every room but the room the piano was in. There was so much damage caused to the piano from smoke and the chemicals used to put out the fire in surrounding areas, that the piano was not worth trying to repair.

 

I've pondered buying another piano, but they tend to be space hogs. Maybe some day when I get rid of a few things or get a bigger home.

 

Enjoy your find, pianos are great to have around.

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Thanks everybody. Yeah alcohol/Joe, on Sunday I opened up the cab. Stuck the 414s about a foot off the strings as low as I could go on the top portion of the piano (damper area). Fathead Blumlien was 7 feet up looking down from 3 feet behind the player and the 87 in the other room. Total Billy Joel sound. It wasn't what I was going for but it's what I got. Very nice sound.

 

On one tune, the album closer, the song ends with band stopping and the piano doing a solo reprise of the intro. I slowly faded the 414s out to leave the Fatheads and 87. Then the Fatheads fade out leaving the 87 in the other room only. Mono and muffled and echoy. Then one final note... then fade. End of album.

 

Great effect.

 

The piano has a dehumidifier attached that I'll keep plugged in.

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Keeping it real...real drums - a real piano.

Next thing you know you will be hiring string and brass sections.

 

Enjoy your new toy.

 

At some poiint you may get to appreciate why engineers have asistants and that you need both a producer and an engineer to keep things rolling.

 

How many miced tracks do you now need to record at any one time?

 

18 foot ceiling - nice.

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Keeping it real...real drums - a real piano.

Next thing you know you will be hiring string and brass sections.


Enjoy your new toy.


At some poiint you may get to appreciate why engineers have asistants and that you need both a producer and an engineer to keep things rolling.


How many miced tracks do you now need to record at any one time?


18 foot ceiling - nice.

 

 

Oh, I appreciate the need for an assistant, believe me. But I'm a total control freak. I dig it. I get in the zone. Take my notes in preproduction, get my sounds, refer to notes as I go. Solve problems. And go to bed very tired and sore. But I absolutely dig it.

 

Yeah, I've done old school brass in there too. Stevie Wonder-esque stuff. No strings yet but I'm planning on it. I've done small choir and B3/Leslie. Banjo, Dobro, and accordion. This is always to supplement pop/rock stuff with deep roots if possible. My passion. I usually do 16 open tracks or so for basics, depending. Digi 002 expanded with API, Urie and FMR.

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Congrats Lee!!! I truly miss the upright grand that my mother gave to me when I moved out the first time. I moved the piano to a friend's home during the process of my first divorce and her home burned; every room but the room the piano was in. There was so much damage caused to the piano from smoke and the chemicals used to put out the fire in surrounding areas, that the piano was not worth trying to repair.


I've pondered buying another piano, but they tend to be space hogs. Maybe some day when I get rid of a few things or get a bigger home.


Enjoy your find, pianos are great to have around.

 

 

Upright Grand? My drummer has a Henderson upright, the dude who gave it to us called it an Upright Grand. Its really tall, and bass response is better than many Grand pianos I've played. I thought he was crazy, because I didn't there was such a thing as upright grand. No matter, Its really heavy wood, and has skid plates on the bottom. It appears to be an old turn of the century rag / saloon piano. Incredible sound, but it needs some work right now.

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Miking from the bottom panel often gets pedal noise.

 

 

Pedal noise was an issue on that date with the internal PZMs. It seems everytime the pedal was released it would knock the wood case above right through the nice felt padding. Even with the cardioid pattern of these 'PZMs'. So... I cut out a piece of kitchen sponge and taped it into place as a pad when the pedal is in the released position. Totally silent.

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Pedal noise was an issue on that date with the internal PZMs. It seems everytime the pedal was released it would knock the wood case above right through the nice felt padding. Even with the cardioid pattern of these 'PZMs'. So... I cut out a piece of kitchen sponge and taped it into place as a pad when the pedal is in the released position. Totally silent.

 

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll check that out.

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