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Upright piano recording


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Lately I've been delving into recording an actual acoustic piano rather than relying on virtual instruments all the time. I just wanted everyone's opinion on this recording. I'm trying to get down a workable method. Right here I am using a stereo pair of small condenser mics (SM81 on left, NT5 on right). For simplicity's sake and due to a shortage of mic stands, I decided to mic from the front bottom panel using some small mic stands. I read about this method from a Sound On Sound article (article link). Each channel is panned hard left and right. Aside from a slight low-cut @50hz and a minor pitch adjustment (piano is slightly flat), the recording is dry without effects. There's a picture of my setup attached to my soundcloud link if you're curious. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks. smiley-happy

 

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That sounds very nice Davie!

 

Have you tried miking from the (open) top, or by miking the rear of your upright? I tend to use both of of those locations when miking up an upright since they tend to have less susceptibility to pedal noise, and offer a bit more attack... but if you're going for a mellower sound and can manage the pedal noise, the low positioning that you selected can work very well, as your recording shows. :)

 

 

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Thanks Phil!

 

I've actually had a friend make a similar suggestion of miking from behind the piano. I might try that sometime later on, but right now I am a bit limited in floor space and it's set up in the living room, so there isn't much room to move the piano much or put up boom stands. Surprisingly in all of my recording trials I haven't noticed much pedal noise, especially when there are notes ringing or being played. I also wedged some foam padding inside the pedal to dampen some of the pedal release noise. Although quite discreet I think key stroke noise might even be louder than the pedal noise. lol. Overall, the piano seems to do okay so far inside of one of my mixes. Hopefully I'll have some new songs posted up soon!

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Sounds like a good setup. If it gives you the sound you're looking for, run with it!

 

I usually set up a spaced pair with the top propped open, and a distant room mic. I've also used a figure-8 mic & cardoid in a very close mid-side setup that sounded pretty sweet.

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