Recording Piano at Home

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Ever wondered how to record your old piano sat at home in the corner? Read on...

Pianos are one of the instruments that are hard to replicate in the world of the virtual instrument due to the complicated resonances and interplay between frequencies when played.
Many people however have upright pianos at home and with a bit of preparation and thought these can be recorded with good results.

First of all, ensure the piano is well tuned - when a stringed instrument like a piano is properly tuned the sound improves due to the resonances within the piano itself.

Ideally you want to record the piano in stereo with a matched pair of capacitor microphones. Large diaphragm mics such as Neumann U87s and AKG C414s are preferred by many engineers but may prove expensive if you are starting out. A cheap alternative would be a factory matched pair of small diaphragm microphones such as the SE Electronics sE1a or the RED RV4s and a pair of mic stands.

For most home piano recording applications a spaced pair should be sufficient. A spaced pair is exactly that - a pair of mics parallel to each other with a space in between them. The exact size of the space between them varies, although the 'rule of three' is a good starting point. the rule of three dictates that the distance between the microphones should be 3x the distance from the sound source but this is only a rule of thumb.

The piano will obviously require the lid opening to give full access to the strings, and the mics should be placed above the top of the piano pointing into the cavity.

Levels should be set carefully as the piano is one of the most dynamic instruments so ensure you leave enough headroom, especially if recording to digital. If you are recording to digital then recording at 24-bit would be advantageous as you could afford to allow around 13dB or so headroom during normal passages.

At this point it would be worthwhile to make a few test recordings with the mics at different positions and angles to find the best placement. In specific look out for mono comparability and ensure that there is not a 'hole' in the middle of your stereo image when the mics are panned left and right. If there appears to be a hole then bring the microphones in closer together or use the pan controls more sparingly.