Recording an Acoustic Piano

[ALIASTrP]

Well.....I've heard this is extremely hard and i need some pointers on doing this. I have an old Currier Upright piano and the sound from this thing is incredible it really has a sound of its own. (its pretty old) I wanna get this recorded and put it in one of my songs, its imperfections are wat makes it great. So how do i got about doing this i have a fast track usb interface and cubase sx3 and a mxl 990 (with a studio v3 as my pre amp), im pretty sure im going to have to do multiple takes to create a good stereo sound, but how do i go about this, as far as mic positioning and so on.

 

[third world wonder]

i asked this question in a thread on the okayplayer boards and saved this response. sadly i didn't take down the name of the person who wrote this, i'll try to find out but here's the advice i got. just to reiterate i don't take credit for this and i wish i took down the person's name so i could give proper credit. anyways, hope this helps.

if you can remove the front panels and top, you already have a gain in the sound quality.

If you're doing piano alone, you can put mics over the top, with the diaphragms facing down toward the strings. I say mics because you don't want any less than two mics, and really three would be even better. You'll want them less than a foot over the top of the piano, too.


Again, with the front panel removed, you can put the mics near the bottom of the open section. This may get a darker sound since it'll be focused on the lower overtones of the strings.


And, if you take the lower front panel off (the kickboard), you can put your mics down there, relatively close to the strings (6-8"), and the resonance will keep the response pretty even.


Now, if you're in a group setting with the chance of bleeding, your best bet might be to get the mics *inside* the piano, with all the panels on. The top will of course have to be at least partly open, which is fine. Some pianos are really restricted inside, but if you can do it, boom the mics down about a foot in, where they'll necessarily be very close to the strings, which is what you want in this case.


If that's just not working, try opening the top fully, and putting the mics immediately over the top, facing down; if they're spaced well and not too far from the piano, you'll get good response, not too much boxiness, and minimal bleeding from other instruments.


For all of these, I'd personally recommend cardioid large-diaphragm condenser mics (they're better than small-diaphragm for close-mic'ing), but dynamics should work fine in a pinch.