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Which microphones and mic amplifiers should I look at in order to make decent home piano recordings? I am trying to be reasonable, stay within 3-4 hundred dollar range.
Thank you.
Follow Ups:
Use an Omni mic or a pair of omnis with a Grand as it/they is less sensitive to placement. As said elsewhere the sound radiates from many positions. The boundry mics also seem to work well. Be sure to isolate - we don't want that pedal noise in the recording.... You didn't state whether it was an upright or Grand/BabyG. I've made some great Upright piano recordings with an omni on top and a good cardiod placed toward the upper registers of the sound board on the back with the piano tilted left hand out about 20 degrees from the wall in my living/piano room. Though to be fair, the mics were 10x your budget... B&K 4003/4011.
Alan Blumlein was a British engineer that invented stereo. The piano and the harpsichord are the most difficult instruments to record because sound eminates from many points all around their periphery. The room that these instruments are in also contributes to their overall sound. And whether or not the piano case is open or closed or somewhere in between. I would look at a Blumlein pair of Figure 8 pattern or bi-directional ribbon. Two mics (left and right channels) are splayed at 90 degrees to each other or one over the other and suspended on a boom. (you have to suspend ribbon mics as they are sensitive to seismic vibrations through the floor). There is a company that sells a Chinese made ribbon mic called Apex. They sell on ebay. I don't have any experience with the mic but have heard some good reports. I do have experience using RCA 44Bx and BK11A bi-directional mics. Also Lewis Layton used this technique to recod many of the famous RCA red seal classical recordings. Good luck! Ray
"I take you as you are
And make of you what I will,
Skunk-bear, carcajou, bloodthirsty
Non-survivor.
Lord, let me die but not die out." THE LAST WOLVERINE by James Dickey
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Well your information is a bit limitedHowever, you can go with a couple of condensor mics and
a small mixer
Let me give you a couple of ideasThis is an affordable little mix that will do the job for your two
channels and has the 48V phantom power you need for the mics
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Eurorack-UB802-Mixer?sku=631238Get a couple of these condensor mics
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-Eurorack-UB802-Mixer?sku=631238Now you have enough to get two mic cables and a couple of boom
mic standsI have no idea what your recording on...
If you are looking at cassette tape then consider using a hi fi
VCR to output the mixer intoYou will get pretty good results
This is about as cheap a route as you can take
Experiment with mic placement
Whoops I blew it on the mic linkGo here
- http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-MXL-990-Condenser-Microphone-with-Shockmount?sku=273156 (Open in New Window)
These have been a surprise. I've been using one of them to record an amp'd guitar in a small combo setting with excellent results. Mine came to me in a package of stuff on a Craiglist tradeout so I hadn't really considered it as a serious contender.There's a companion small-diaphram mic, too, the MXL 991, that is also pretty good. Its been on the hi-hat/snare in a drum setup lately.
Cheers,
And, does this question really come under the category of "Pro Audio"?
Decent HOME piano recording. Three or four hundred dollars.
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