Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum best piano microphone

Thanks for the responses!

A TL-Audio Tubetracker console was used for the Barber, and a Grace 801 was used for the Gershwin.

Recording-wise, the biggest difference in the recordings is how far the microphones are from the piano. In the Barber, they are in the third row of the house. For the Gershwin, they are close, which results in a brighter, more "modern" sound. Both practical and aesthetic concerns went into the decision for each.

[UPDATE] ** Just remembered these are probably not the same pianos. A rental was brought in for the Barber, presumably leaving the in-house piano backstage in its storage area for the soloist to warm-up and practice on.

NorseHorse is a recordist par excellence !

Welcome to PW Christian..

For those who might be interested, here is a link to a recording made in my piano studio with my current set up. The complete recording will become part of my first CD available for commercial release: "15 Pieces from the Golden Age of the Piano". Should have everything ready for "mastering" in about two weeks if things go as planned.

The Music Sample: from Harry Farjeon's Einen Schanengesang. http://andrewkraus.com/Smpls/Farjeon-EinenSchwanengesangPreview.mp3

Microphones: 2 CM 414 large diaphragm FET condenser microphones from Advanced Audio in Canada. The pattern was set on "Omni".

Placement: Just past the ends of the keyboards, on stands, with the base of the mics 60" above the floor

Signal Chain: simplicity itself, direct into a Tascam DR-100 flash recorder 24-bit, 96k sampling frequency.

Recording: no EQ, no reverb added. Ready for trimming and mastering.

Piano: 1929 Steinert 6'10" grand. This is a very close copy of a 1929 New York Steinway "B". It has been restrung but has the original sound board (which I think is one of the reasons it sounds as good as it does). I also had the action refurbished and replaced the original WNG parts with Renner whippens, shanks and flanges, new back checks, and Abel Natural Select hammers medium weight.

Studio: started life as a 1 car garage, became the sales office for our suburban subdivision and got a "cathedral" ceiling in the process. Tile floor. Room was very reverberant, so I've done some treatment with 2" thick fiber glass panels covered with acoustically transparent burlap as well as a 4" thick corner trap. To my ears, the room is dry enough to allow hearing details, wet enough not to be dead.

I stumbled on this old thread recently when I was looking at ways of recording my acoustic piano. My requirements were:

1) Reasonably cheap
2) Decent audio result
3) Something that is better than recording directly from iPhone or PC using on-board microphones
4) Simple and easy to use
5) Easy to move to the computer

In this thread, Grandpianoman suggested the TASCAM IM2 microphone and tried it out. I did some follow-up research.

Then I found out that Tascam is dumping their inventory of IM2 microphones. I found this:

TASCAM iM2 Channel Portable Digital Recorder on Amazon for $24. Wow!

Ref: http://www.amazon.com/iM2-Channel-P...18265&sr=8-1&keywords=tascam+im2


The IM2 TASCAM microphone is specially designed for IPOD Touch and older IPad/iPHone models that have the large (almost 1 inch wide) power connector. That's what I had, so I thought: "what's to lose for $23?" I had been seriously considering a portable digital recorder but this seemed to fill the same niche.

The IM2 arrived in about a week and I was lost on how to use it for about a day. The documentation for the microphone itself is ok but how to use it on/with the iPhone/iPod/iPad using TASCAM's PCMRecorder app left me a little lost for awhile.

From the accompanying manual:

Overview of Features:

1) This stereo mic can be connected to an iPhone 4, iPad 2, iPad, or iPod touch (4th generation) and used to record with applications that support mic input.
2) Using the angle-adjusted pair of high-sensitivity condenser mics, you can record in high-quality 44.1 kHz/16-bit format, which is equivalent to CD audio.
3) The limiter can prevent distortion when the input level is too loud, and the input level can also be adjusted, enabling optimal recording.
4) The USB connector allows the connected iPhone 4, iPad 2, iPad or iPod touch (4th gen) to be recharged while using this unit to record.

For what it's worth:

Here's a short clip that I made recording my Kawai KG-5 grand piano using this TASCAM IM2 recorder on my iPod Touch.

https://app.box.com/s/a77aw80akqe5hmws7n2k

... By the way, to record, I open the top and remove the music desk and place the ipod touch/IM2 mic on top of the front edge of the piano, on top of some cloth. [So the recording is 'close' and dry.] Recording is like using a VCR. You CAN play back the .wav files. You can record four or five recordings, upload them to SoundCloud (easy), or connect to your PC and move the files to your PC via iTunes. The iTunes procedure requires a little sleuthing but worked ok.

Tascam has been bought by Gibson. Based on what we're hearing from inside, It's not pretty.

Kurt

I must have read this thread way back when and every time it's resurfaced in between, but I'm grateful it's been resurrected again. AZ Astro it seems you've resolved your inquiry before you asked, but in typical PW style I'm going to offer a different solution.

I recently recorded my Estonia using the following; Rode NT5s through a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 preamp and interface. It sounds much better than the previous setup of the NT5s through a Presonus preamp into converters in my laptop (that's probably the weak spot). Here's a link.

http://soundcloud.com/pantonality/rhapsody

I'm no audio engineer but to my ear it sounds like a professional recording. The recording is clean and tight and it brings out nuances in the piano and your playing nicely.

That would explain the fire-sale price of the IM2 microphone. Thanks for the note.

Anyway to use this microphone with a newer iPad (and the tiny power connection)?

Forrest

I don't think so, I think the connectors have a different number of pins on them.



But - maybe there is another microphone out there that works with the new iPhone and a smaller power connector?

I use a similar set up but add a third mic in the middle to try to pick up more of the treble.

Hy Richard! I am usind Rode NT5 stereo pair and i find them really good! Additionaly i put another RODE NT1A for ambiance!
Greets!