Techniques for recording a Steinway D

[Richard Brekne]

Depends on the type of music you are recording, the halls acoustics and 
the kind of sound you are looking for really... probably some other 
stuff too.  In general tho, close mike placement will pick up the 
percussive elements of the hammer impact... and to some degree you may 
want that.  It also will pick up a lot of other stuff too which may or 
may not be desirable. You can use microphones to act as a kind of 
acoustic microscope or as a kind of filter.

In classical music in a big hall you very often find just 2 mikes placed 
at a height about halfway between the top of the rim and the open lid 
around 1 to 2 feet away from the instrument. Direction is a trial and 
error game but often enough you are looking to point them at one 
reflective point from the lid.  But really... there are lots of 
techniques different sound technicians will employ.

Cheers
RicB


    I'm looking for suggestion on techniques for recording a Steinway D.
    Mike
    placement, type of mike, etc. Any ideas on methods to reduce damper
    swoosh
    and clunk would be appreciated as well. Pro Tools will be the recording
    software.
    Thanks in advance!
    Scott Rogers, RPT