Piano recording techniques

It’s very hard to record a convincing piano sound with bedroom-studio equipment, but still possible. I will show you some techniques I tried while recording my own videosongs. Please note, I’m not an audio engineer, this is just my musician experience.

You don’t need expensive microphones to get a good result, my equipment for the tests was relatively cheap considering each single test:

- t.bone EM 800 (condenser, cardoid) 34€
- t.bone MB75 (dynamic, cardioid) 33€
- RØDE NT5 (condenser, cardioid) 150€
- Behringer B-2 Pro (condenser, omnidirectional / cardoid / figure-8) 111€
- Creme DeMentia Bottle-Cap Contact Mic (piezo mic) 10€

Well, the first problem for me was that I didn’t have a matched pair of mics, so I recorded many takes with different mic combinations. As pre-amps I used my old Motu 828mkII.

If you have a vertical piano, I suggest to remove the front panel. For me it was easy to do but be carefull, the panel can be heavy. If you can’t or don’t want to remove it you can still open the top of your piano (without removing any pieces). You should get a brighter sound this way. If you want to experiment a lot, you can even remove the bottom-front panel and try different mic positions there too.

The first thing I tried was putting each mic in the centre of the soundboard, recording the same phrase and then listen to the results. I recorded different take for each mic too. Changing input-gain, distance from the source and inclination. Just be organized and rename each track with notes, or write everything into a notepad.

Basically, if you need a brighter sound, the mic should be placed on the right side, instead, for a darker sound, the mic should be placed on the left. Changing the inclinations downward means you capture much more mechanical sounds from the hammers, but if you find the right inclination you can get you a very nice attack sound.

Then I tried to put two mics, one on the left and one on the right of the player. Using two mics lets you mix (eq, pan pot, effects) the two sources as you like. These tests were much more difficult to do and needed much more post-work. It all depends on what mic you put on the left and what on the right. I liked the sound of a large diaphragm mic on the left and a standard cardioid on the right.

Which solution is best depend of your needs, your ears and the time you have.

For the video La valse d’Amelie I used just one mic (Behringer B-2 Pro) and I liked it. Even if there is a piano solo intro, it was better using one mic for my ears and for the sound idea I had. For the video The Simpsons Theme I used two mics (RØDE NT5 and Behringer B-2 Pro) since I felt it was better for the mix but I had to do more work on the editing/mixing session.

I did other tests like putting one mic in the center and one behind the bench, or one up the soundboard and one down. I tried with a piezo mic (Creme DeMentia Bottle-Cap Contact Mic) and it sounded very bad for my videosongs but, instead, it was very good as sound design experiment for a soundtrack I was composing.

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You have to experiment until you find the sound you like. If you don’t find it or if you don’t have enough time to experiment or to edit your work there is always a better solution: virtual instruments/sample libraries. It “breaks” the acoustic feel but a virtual solution is way better then bad recordings, tuning problems, bad editing etc. In the last videosong I made, J. Brahms – Waltz Op.39 N.3 I used Ivory Italian Grand 2. Not much editing, no mic problems, perfectly tuned. I saved time to focus on other things much more important than the piano takes.

Tags: Carlo Castellano Piano recording techniques tutorial