how to record a piano?

[t_e_l_e]

i friend of mine got a new upright piano and wants to record a song or two with me

ok open the top, having two mic stand left and right and pointing the mics to the strings

any recommendation what to look at what to avoid, newbie mistakes to avoid?

 

which mics? i have two sm57 or two small diameter condensers i use for drum overheads

i don't in which room it stands cause i had no chance to visit her in her new flat and if the room acoustic would be desirable or not

 

anyhow any info or any links is mostly welcome

[witesol]

The two SD mics probably better, unless you want an aggressive sound that the 57s can give. I'd be tempted to use the SD in an XY to know that your phase will be good later. 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Here's a good article on the subject that should help you out.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr09/articles/uprightpianos.htm

I've had some success with micing the rear of the piano. There's a picture of that technique in that article. The "through the top" technique can work well too. Both are fairly "close" sounding, although with the back technique, the mic to piano distance definitely comes into play and can affect the amount of room ambience you pick up.

I like spaced pairs, but Kelly's comment regarding XY has a lot of merit too - sometimes you can wind up with a "hole in the middle" with spaced pairs that are too widely spaced.

If it is a good sounding room, getting a pair of crossed figure 8's up (Blumlein pair) can sound fantastic... adjust the stereo mic pair to source distance until you like the balance of direct and room sound, and go from there. I agree with Kelly about the mic choice too - the small diaphragm condensers are probably going to be your best choice.

 

 

[aklaalone]

Welcome t_e_l_e, thank you for your information. your information very Useful for me. I am interested to know how it can record by piano?

[pogo97]

Don't know if this will be useful, but I'll show you how I do it. And then ask for a critique of the sound.

My singing partner and I are working toward recording some videos and we're getting the sound right first. Here's a sound check.

This is the room (it's the parlour of our old brick house and there's a bay window behind the christmas tree). We're using a Sony ECM MS957 stereo mic at the front top corner of the bass end of the piano and pointing between my partner (sitting at the left end of the bench) and me (playing the piano and singing). There's a hallway and stairs out the door on the right and the ceiling is just about 9 feet. This being a video, the mic has to be outside the frame.

All-in-all, I'm pretty happy with the sound (this is after lots of experimenting with placement) but it does still sound a bit like "the room" and I'd like to de-emphasise that. Is there a tried-and-true approach to this? I don't know.