Recording piano in university practice room CREATIVE

[curtiswyant]

First off, I want to say that there is a ton of great info here.

Now, my uni just built this fancy-ass new building with lots of nice piano practice rooms that are open to students like me. Since I can't fit a piano where I live and can't stand any form of sampled/digital piano, I face a dilema -- how do I get a "guerilla" recording of a live piano? I was thinking along the lines of a minidisc recorder or something with built-in pres? It needs to be something I can fit in a backpack, obviously. I'm not exactly going for the best sound quality, either...I'll just say I'm doing "lo-fi"
But, what are your thoughts? The cheaper the better, because this won't be an everyday occurence. C'mon...think!

[The Scum]

As a student, do you have a laptop? With a mic input? (or even a built in mic?)

You could always look for one of the old battery-powered Realistic PZM mics, and tape it to a wall or ceiling.

Hell, you could even plug a pair pf headphones into a mic input and use them as mics.

Byron Jacquot

[Professor]

The biggest problem of portability would be managing a microphone stand.

Otherwise, any basic stereo microphone with an 1/8" plug would do to get you started. Sony makes a few that work fairly well, and the larger ones that use an AA battery will tend to get you better results. You could also look into the stereo mics from Rode or Audio Technica. Another good soultion is a pair of PZM or 'boundary' microphones such as the Crown "Soundgrabber II" mics that can be taped to the wall that faces the open lid of the piano and spaced as wide apart as you deem necessary for a nice full sound.
For dry and articulate, get the mics closer to the hammers, but for fuller sound, start just to the other side of the stick and work your way back from the piano (and away from the keyboard) until you find a sound you like.
The real issue will be the dryness of the small room, but I found a fun fix for this when I was a student. Have a friend in the percussion department snag you a large (like 36-inch) concert bass drum on a stand. Wheel the drum into the practice room and place it out in front of the lid of the piano. It will be a tight fit in any practice room. Now place the microphone on the far side of the drum away from the piano, but pointed through the drum into the inside of the piano. There you go, instant concert hall reverb. It the reverb is a little too bright, loosen up the head closer to the microphone (or have you percussionist friend do it). If it is too darken, tighten the head a little. If it rings too long, you can drape a scarf down onto the head by varying degrees. If it doesn't ring long enough, get a bigger drum.

That should be a good starter.

-Jeremy

[A.L.]

I'm not a huge Minidisc fan but I would say Minidisc or ideally portaDAT with one of those little battery-powered stereo mics.

Bringing in a laptop introduces a ton of noise, both acoustic (fans, HDs, etc.) and, if you're going in through the standard mic in, electrical.

Positioning? Hmm. Haven't mic'd enough pianos to say.

Sony has a bunch of nice options, meeting a variety of price points:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/control ... i=1421&ac=

edit: cross-posted with the prof. Always an excellent and generous source of info.

[curtiswyant]

I think I could manage to get mics and stands into the room without anyone getting suspicious. It is the music department after all! I have SM57s, MC012's, SP B1's, etc, that I could use. DATs look pretty expensive...I think a minidisc would be cheaper. Would it be worth it to try to bring along an external pre, like a RNP?

[Professor]

An external preamp would be necessary for the mc012 or B1 mics you have as they would need phantom power and possibly more gain.

-J

[A.L.]

Yeah, I think at that point you're in laptop / hw interface land, like an M-box, etc.

Huh, from that B&H link it looks like sony's got a boundary mic too. $ 57.95 Wonder how it sounds?

[bigtoe]

your uni probably has a sound dept. see if they rent or loan out to students!

Mike

[supafuzz]

was a student. Have a friend in the percussion department snag you a large (like 36-inch) concert bass drum on a stand. Wheel the drum into the practice room and place it out in front of the lid of the piano. It will be a tight fit in any practice room. Now place the microphone on the far side of the drum away from the piano, but pointed through the drum into the inside of the piano. There you go, instant concert hall reverb. It the reverb is a little too bright, loosen up the head closer to the microphone (or have you percussionist friend do it). If it is too darken, tighten the head a little. If it rings too long, you can drape a scarf down onto the head by varying degrees. If it doesn't ring long enough, get a bigger drum.

wow that's a cool idea..i'm going to try it with an amp and see what it sounds like..........

[justinf]

That is a killer idea with the bass drum, Jeremy.

I used to do this all the time and would check out a DAT from the university. I used (and still do with my minidisc) the cheaper AA powered Audio Technica stereo mic and it's fine (bought it at Full Compass for about $50 I believe). Just bring a nice set of headphones to determine where the best place in the room is for your tastes.

[supafuzz]

justinf

love the faster pussycat avatar!!
tura satana rules!!!!

[marqueemoon]

I actually did this for my friend's record. He wanted real piano for a song and the studio where he was recording didn't have one. But he worked at the art museum which happened to have a nice piano.

The song was going to have pretty sparse instrumentation, and the piano was going to be the first track, so here's what I did.

I brought my laptop, my, crappy Roland USB soundcard, my Mackie 1202 VLZ, my Earthworks SR77s, a crappy metronome, and a set of headphones.

We found the tempo of the song, then set it on the metronome. I ran from the inserts of the Mackie straight to the sound card and plugged the metronome into another channel. This was nice becuase the piano player could monitor via the headphones and adjust the relative levels of click and piano to her liking.

It turned out great. Once I got levels I had to guard the door to keep people from peeking in and screwing up takes.

[Phiz]

The biggest problem of portability would be managing a microphone stand.

This is ghetto, but if you want a dirt cheap, half-assed microphone stand that will fit in a backpack with room to spare, here is what I recommend. Musiciansfriend.com has a little music stand for $5.99 that collpases to be about 2 feet long, 3 inches in diameter and weighs almost nothing. Buy one of those and some gaffers tape. With a not-so-heavy microphone and some creativity you should be able to get some useful microphone positions. I've done this before with an SM-57 and SM-81 when I was in a pinch and out of real microphone stands. Its not ideal, but not too horrible either.

[marqueemoon]

The biggest problem of portability would be managing a microphone stand.

This is ghetto, but if you want a dirt cheap, half-assed microphone stand that will fit in a backpack with room to spare, here is what I recommend. Musiciansfriend.com has a little music stand for $5.99 that collpases to be about 2 feet long, 3 inches in diameter and weighs almost nothing. Buy one of those and some gaffers tape. With a not-so-heavy microphone and some creativity you should be able to get some useful microphone positions. I've done this before with an SM-57 and SM-81 when I was in a pinch and out of real microphone stands. Its not ideal, but not too horrible either.

Or, if it's a grand you could just open the lid and hang your mic(s) from it.

[Scodiddly]

One good mono mic... you can do all sorts of things with a (yes, you guessed it!) SM-57.

As for a mic stand alternative, just about anything. Might already be a music stand in the room, or a broomstick and some tape...