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[Bloodspoint]

So, I have a pretty nice piano - a Yamaha C7 - in a not so great room: 7' dropped ceiling, but the piano sounds great in the room, really.
I've done a few recordings using a couple of Oktava 012's with cardioid capsules up fairly close to the strings, pointed right down at the strings, with one on the bass side, and one on the treble side. This has works okay, and I get a lot of detail, which is great if I am going to mix it into a song or something, but on its own, it doesn't sound nearly as good as the piano does in the room. It sounds kind of small, and I get all the mechanical noises the piano makes.

So, this time, I tried a couple of LD condensors, AT3035's, kind of spread out - one on the bass side, one on the treble side, about 6 feet out and a couple feet up.
This really sounded good, and really captured the sound of the piano, but I also got a lot of "room noise", which really was distracting.
I had also used the 012's up close again as a backup, and what I ended up doing for the final mix is to use the close up mics, and faded a little of the room mics up for fullness, just below the point where you could hear the room noise.
That worked, but four mics seems like a lot just to get piano, when the room mics would work if I could get rid of the noise.

Any suggestions on what I could do to get the sound of the piano without the noise? A frequency I could filter or something?

I used the 3035's because they seem not too high endy and I have two of them. Other mics I have two of are the MXL V57M (aka 1006?), MXL V67 Mogami edition, RE-20, and of course, the aforementioned Oktava MC-012's.

Mics I have one of are a U87ai, an MD-421MkII, and Oktava ML52 ribbon, and a CAD Equitek E-200. I'm leaving out a bunch of other dyamics like 57s.
Preamps I have are two channels of Great River MP-2NV and Aphex 107, in addition to a bunch of channels of Mackie. I'm pumping them right into an 888/24 and into ProTools MixPlus.
In this last recording, I ran the 3035's through the GR, which is pretty quiet, and the 012's through the Aphex - no compression.

Thanks,

Sean

[hargerst]

If it were me, I'd spend a lot more time playing with placement of the MC012's and leave the other mics in the box. Room can be controlled with a few well placed moving blankets placed behind the MC012's.

[Bloodspoint]

I'll give that a try, Harvey. Thanks. You think, of those mics, the 012's are my best bet?
I've got another piano session coming in a few weeks, so I've got a little time to play with it.
Maybe if I move them back a little more, they'll get a little "bigger" sound, and less mechanical noise?

Sean

[hargerst]

Bloodspoint wrote on Fri, 25 June 2004 12:43

I'll give that a try, Harvey. Thanks. You think, of those mics, the 012's are my best bet? I've got another piano session coming in a few weeks, so I've got a little time to play with it. Maybe if I move them back a little more, they'll get a little "bigger" sound, and less mechanical noise? Sean

Yup, put the piano lid at half or full stick, and move the mics out to about 3 to 6' away.  Play with distance, height, and separation.