Members daddyO Posted February 17, 2004 Members Share Posted February 17, 2004 What is the best way to Mike a 7' grand piano for live performance. We use a grand piano in out worshio service along with electric guitars and bass and a full drum kit. I've currently got a cheap Samson dynamic mike on a boom inside the piano running straight into the PA board. The mike is aimed at the middle of the strings and I keep the lid almost closed - it's propped up on a book so the boom isn't crushed. However, the sound is less than good. It sounds thin and tinny. IfI turn up the level, it howls. The mike pickups the bass amp because the stage is raised up on plywood. Any suggestions? The band plays at moderately loud levels - about as loud as a club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted February 18, 2004 Members Share Posted February 18, 2004 Band volume needs to come down first of all. The soundboard operates in revese and transfers sound from the environment (bass/drums) back into the piano. For loud stages, a Helpensteil pickup properly installed is a good solution, or a Yamaha CP-80 is fine too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted February 18, 2004 Members Share Posted February 18, 2004 Pianos are tough to mic. Definitely band volume will cause problems... check out the movie "The Last Waltz", they had the piano wrapped in blankets! I generally try to have a pair of little condensors (Oktava 012) up by the hammers, on a stereo bar in the middle and pointing along the dampers to cover as much range as possible. That gets mixed with a mic very close on the soundboard, either through one of the holes in the harp from above, or from underneath. I've got some little Panasonic mic capsules and I'm planning on building a little M-S mic for the hammer mics, to see how that works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted February 18, 2004 Members Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by Audiopile Well... one way is to prop the soundboard up at a 45 deg angle, and then place the mic on a stand about 4 to 6 ft. out from the side of the piano pointed roughly at the center of the soundboard (skewed a bit toward the keyboard end of the soundboard is best). You'll need a fairly "good" grade of mic to do this. This is a great technique for jazz, but with a loud drum kit and bass... I'm not sure how much piano yo will get once the band cranks up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madjack Posted February 18, 2004 Members Share Posted February 18, 2004 Another possibility that occassionally works is to put a PZM on the soundboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members windbag Posted February 18, 2004 Members Share Posted February 18, 2004 Taped inside the lid (top), I'd say. Or put the PZM on the floor underneath the piano plus the cheap mic in the piano and see how they mix? The top's got to be open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madjack Posted February 18, 2004 Members Share Posted February 18, 2004 Originally posted by Audiopile I guess it's time to clarify terminology.1) I always though the "soundboard" in a piano is the large metal frame that holds the strings.2) The large sound directing lid is called "the top".Previously I described micing the soundboard, but assumed we were all talking about the sound directing hunk of wood on top that you can prop open like a car hood.If my clarification of the terminology is correct, are you suggesting to affix a PZM mic to the soundboard or the top? Actually, the large metal frame is called "the harp". The soundboard is the large section of wood to which the harp is attached. The sound directing lid is called "the top". A PZM could be attached to either the top or the soundboard underneath the harp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daddyO Posted February 19, 2004 Author Members Share Posted February 19, 2004 Thanks guys. What about a single dynamic microphone solution. We're on a budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ford Audio Serv Posted February 19, 2004 Members Share Posted February 19, 2004 Originally posted by daddyO Thanks guys. What about a single dynamic microphone solution. We're on a budget. Tape the mic to the under side of the "lid" and slam it shut... end of story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madjack Posted February 19, 2004 Members Share Posted February 19, 2004 Originally posted by daddyO Thanks guys. What about a single dynamic microphone solution. We're on a budget. Crown pzm retails for $69.99. Radio Shack has a boundary mic (basically the same thing but probably not as good quality) for $39.99. As others have said, you won't be able to get a decent sound with one dynamic mic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted February 21, 2004 Members Share Posted February 21, 2004 Originally posted by madjack Crown pzm retails for $69.99. Radio Shack has a boundary mic (basically the same thing but probably not as good quality) for $39.99.As others have said, you won't be able to get a decent sound with one dynamic mic. Those are both omnidirectional mics and not suitable for any application where you have large amounts of ambient stage noise (drums, gtr, bass etc). Crown makes a PCC-160 which is directional (hemi-spherical) boundery mic, but definately NOT budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audioeast Posted February 23, 2004 Members Share Posted February 23, 2004 as reinforcement.......a dynamic mic wont do it! I've found success with 2 AT5100 codensors about 3 inches from the wholes in the harp, exposing the sound board, it's good to have a paremetric eq (or a good console) inserted to tune the mic for the stage (re: abient bleed) .....which is entirly do-able, the SPL of the piano will fairly high 3" from the soundboard so the gain will be managable..... But a piano is a hard instrument to mic in the sense that all pianos are imperfect at best, but try micing a $100,000 steinway one night and then micing a $15,000 samick the next.....I dont have any mics or consoles or FX that will fix that problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daddyO Posted February 23, 2004 Author Members Share Posted February 23, 2004 Thank you for the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.