Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Microphone for Recording Piano

Any suggestion of microphone for use with piano? 88-key piano generate sound frequency from 27.5Hz to 4186Hz, but most microphone on the market has frequency range from 100Hz to 10000Hz.

Many large diaphragm condensors have frequency responses from 20 - 20,000. There are lots of great choices. Mics from Shure, EV, Audio Technica, Neumann, AKG, Rode, Royer, Groove Tubes, and many others will work great. For a large diaphragm condenser you will need either phantom power or you can buy mics that are already USB ready and record right to your computer. To record in stereo (highly recommended for piano) you will either need two mics or a stereo mic which is essencially two mics in one mic housing. If you just want to make casual recordings, there are some great pocket studio type recording devices that do a very fine job and are super convienient. Sony, Yamaha, Tascam, Roland, Zoom, M-Audio and others make these.

Depends on the pianist, piano, room, budget, desired mic pick up pattern, style of music, micing distance, recording chain, etc.

Studio Standard on a budget: Shure KSM141, several from Audio Technica

Classical Music Studio Standard: Schoeps CMC6 series, Sennheiser MKH series,

For my typical setup, I use a spaced pair of AKG C414B-XLS mics fed into a DAV BG-1 preamp into a Tascam DV-RA1000 recorder. I record in omni mode, with the mics 3-4ft from the curve of the piano.

Good Luck!

There are many choices out there as Pianolance suggests.

I have had very good results with piano using the Avenson STO-2 mics. Not cheap, but VERY natural sounding. www.avensonaudio.com

Here is an example I recorded with the Avenson's.

Princess Lei's theme from Star Wars, recorded on my 1925 M&Hamlin RBB, pair of Avenson STO-2 mics using the Korg MR-1000 digital recorder. http://www.box.net/shared/16ruokxmz4

You can use a less expensive digital recorder than the Korg, such as the Zoom H4.

I also have a pair of Rode NT5 mics, which are good for piano as well. I now prefer the Avenson's. Here is an example of the NT5's.

Princess Lei's Theme from Star Wars, recorded on my 1925 M&Hamlin RBB, pair of Rode NT5 mics, using the Zoom H4 digital recorder. http://www.box.net/shared/7yjh945rnh

I agree that the Avenson's are a very interesting choice. Great value for the money.

I use a Korg MR-1000 DSD recorder, a matched stereo pair of Earthworks CT20 small-diaphragm, omni-directional, condenser mics, high-quality (but unshielded) Monster mic cables, and two mic stands.

For classical piano I use A-B configuration, placing the mic stands eight feet out from the curve of my Baldwin Model L Artist Grand. The mics are parallel, their separation being 12 inches. The elevation of the mics on the stands is 4 1/2 feet with the mics pointing to the top rim of the open piano lid.

Understand that room acoustics, the piano, and the pianist are variables. So in any room, experimentation is essential to find the best distance from the piano. In the experimentation the 12" separation is an optimal constant and should not be changed.

You can listen to my Catoire recordings on Member Recordings here. The Earthworks mics are neutral and natural, that is, they do not add color to recordings. The "headroom" of these mics is incredible, as they are designed to be used with powerful instruments like the piano.

RachFan,

The Earthworks mics are an excellent choice, albeit somewhat more expensive than the Avenson's. If you need to save money and yet still get excellent results, the Avenson is a good choice. In fact, the Avenson uses the same capsule that Earthworks use. The headroom of the Avenson is also quite high and is ideal for piano, drums etc.

There is an interestng article on recording the piano at:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan08/articles/pianorecording_0108.htm

ddf

88man mentioned the Sennheiser MKH series. Sennheiser have another series, the Evolution, somewhat cheaper, but where the performance is a long way toward that of the MKH. I record with the e914 model and have a recordings page with several examples of piano in varying acoustics.

Frequency range numbers will be meaningless here. Ten different kinds of mics with equivalent "frequency range" specs will all sound different from each other, and be suited to different purposes. Ignore the numbers and use your ears. For piano, look for a condenser mic (a pair, really), and, generally, one without too "tight' a pickup pattern (e.g. avoid those sold as primarily a vocal mic, like a Shure SM87).

These are all great suggestions from everyone. On the consumer-level side, I've had success with a pair of M-Audio Pulsar II, which run about $250/pair and sound pretty good for the price.

I own the Earthworkds Audio QTC40, which I intend to use for recording a grand piano (baby grand Steinway, without any further information). I talked to the people of Earthworks in Frankfurt in April and they gave me some insights on how to place the mics (the one option was very near the board, and the other quite a few feet away).

The other thing to take care is the preamp you will use. I own a Grace Design m201 which is also neutral in the capturing.

(Both recomendations are rather expensive of course... )

We used a Shure SM81 to record a Yamaha C6 for some pre-wedding music. This condenser microphone has excellent frequency response and did a fantastic job in the recording and also as a pickup for the house system. I suppose you could use (2) of them in a cross pattern to achieve stereo sound.

........

.

Del, that's an excellent, well written article, thanks, it's bookmarked!

Nice playing and recording Nigel.

Here are a few more examples of the Avenson's and the Korg MR-1000. What I like about them, they are pretty neutral, have a fairly high spl factor, and they are at a great price considering their quality. These are all recorded close mic, lid up and mics facing directly down, about 15 inches from the bass and about 20+ from the treble strings.

Warsaw Concerto Excerpt, played on the LX http://www.box.net/shared/jbrqqjbd9t

Music from Schindler's List http://www.box.net/shared/or76hllc9d

On a Clear Day http://www.box.net/shared/h50sbqivzh

Great info and links, thank you all!

What does everyone here think of a pair of Marshall labs MXL 604s for recording a grand? Is that a good choice for a total budget of $600-$1000? I was thinking of pairing them with a Tascam 122MKII interface for basic but high quality home recordings.

Hey Bunneh,

Personally I like the sound of larger condenser mics on piano to get a nice warm tone on the low-end. I think a pair of Studio Projects B1s, or a B1 paired with a B3 for MS (www.studioprojectsusa.com). Also the mics grandpianoman identified from Avenson look to be a great pair of electret microhpones (which typically have a dead-flat response). If these indeed have the same capsule as the Earthworks mics, a stereo pair of those are an incredible deal for mid $500s. In fact, I'm tempted to sell off my more expensive pair of Audio Technica AT 4051s for a set of Avensons after hearing gpm's recordings!
I haven't heard many good things about MXL mics.

Regards,
Ryan

I'm just curious if anyone has tried recording a piano with the new Blue Microphones Yeti USB stereo microphone. If so, how was your result? It looks to be a very simple way to record direcly to your computer. No preamp required and should work great with Audacity or Garage Band. I'm thinking of picking up one of these for the ease of use factor.

.

Here is another example of the Avenson STO-2's at work, through the Korg. This is somewhat more in the classical vein. You are all aware I am sure, that mic placement makes quite a difference in the sound, as you can hear on this Gershwin piece. Again, a close-mic recording, lid up, mics facing down in the treble and bass.

Gershwin-Concerto in F, 1st movement, played on LX system, pianist is Matt Herskowitz http://www.box.net/shared/dpgxgm42sb