Piano Recording, was: Soundboard #001 Finished

[John Musselwhite]

At 11:14 AM 03/06/03 -0400, Terry wrote:

>Thanks for the kind words. One question I have had for a while now is what 
>recommendations does anyone have for equipment and techniques for 
>recording a piano. I currently have zero equipment and zero knowledge of 
>how to go about making a recording that might reasonably reflect the true 
>sound of the piano. My current budget for equipment is pretty darn close 
>to zero also, but I need to know what direction I need to head in.

One suggestion would be to find one or two of the Radio Shack PZM mics at 
garage sales, flea markets or EBay. Mount one or both back-to-back on a 
piece of heavy plexiglass or butcher block that you've laminated together. 
There's your mics.  Turn off any fans or air conditioning when recording as 
they'll pick up anything. If you're using one, have it face the piano. With 
two, place them edge on. Mount them about 4-5 feet from the piano and 
record both the front sound and the back if it's an upright. Experiment 
with the position for the best sound.

For a recorder, either find a mini-disc recorder at a flea market or pawn 
shop or beg/borrow/get one of the new little 4-track digital recorders from 
Zoom or Korg. The mini disc will let you play music in your shop or car 
too. I use a Zoom MRS 1044 with that mic combination and the sound is 
excellent considering the investment in mics ($5 each at a garage sale).

You can get reasonable good sound from that combination for a couple of 
hundred dollars if you look around. It goes up from there.

Good luck and thanks for the pics!

                         John

John Musselwhite, RPT    -     Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com  http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
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