Back on 1/21/00 an inSync reader posed a question about how to mic an upright piano, and we opened the forum to our readers to send in their tips and techniques. A few have responded with helpful information and insight so as promised we are posting the results here. These will also be added as an addendum to the Piano Miking Summit pages. As always these summit entries are published with only minor edits and corrections.
John E. van der Brook
Olympia, WA
When you listen to a piano, are you listening to the strings or to the soundboard? That’s an age-old question which, at least in the piano building industry (as well as other acoustic string instruments) has been answered: you’re listening to the sound of the strings as amplified by the soundboard. More technically correct, the soundboard serves as an impedance matching device that takes the energy of the vibrating string and couples it to the air.
Here’s an analogy: Do you remember the phonograph? When playing a record, with the volume turned all the way down, you could put your ear near the phono cartridge and hear the sound of the music being played back. In the really old acoustic phono players, this sound was impedance-matched to the air via a big old horn. These can be found in most museums and if you are lucky, you might get a demo. They actually do a pretty good job, considering how primitive it was. And an analogy for younger performers, non-acoustic guitars have almost no sound when their strings are strummed. That’s because they lack acoustic coupling, the front plate of a guitar. In a string instrument, the string is vibrating and the bridge serves as a mechanical coupling device to the soundboard. The sound board, like a large speaker driver, moves a lot of air a very small distance, which sets up acoustic waves, which is what we hear when we listen.
The grand piano uses a soundboard, which allows for different resonating lengths, and thus is better at its job of acoustic impedance matching. The upright is just loaded with compromises. But that said, I’ve had good luck using a pair of vocal mikes (AKG 535s) about 18 – 24 inches from the back of the upright. One mike is near the high end of the treble section; the other is near the break (the break with where the piano switches from the treble section, with 3 strings per note, to the base section with heavier strings per note. Also, they are generally criss-crossing each other). The piano doesn’t sound as good as a grand, but it is amazingly good anyway. You eliminate most or all the noise from the action.
Greg Baum Sweetwater
I have had outstanding results miking upright pianos by shoving a solitary Crown PZM mic up underneath the piano. If the piano is sitting on a naked wood floor, then the floor helps to act as a sounding board. I found the lows to be thick, the highs very clear and present and the mids to shimmer. The labels and A&R people loved it. I have tried other ways of miking, but I keep falling back on this. Using 2 mics doesn’t work as well as using one. Once you get it positioned the sound will blow your mind!
Don Herman, Jr.
Most uprights allow one to open the top, which provides a place to put a pair of mics to pick up the high and low strings. Putting the mic in the cabinet has never worked well for me, however — too much boom and tizz. I’ll usually put (or prop) up the lid a bit (maybe 8″ to 10″) and mic from the front, pointing the mics generally into the piano but at an angle. Some nice resonant effects can be had (also some bad resonance effects, of course) which add ambiance. This can be a challenge on some uprights, like some Steinways, which have the whole front section open rather than the top. For these, miking from the side may be better. In either case (no pun intended!) a PZM or two on the lid (or front) (facing the strings) may work really well.
It’s almost always necessary to fiddle with mic placement (so what else is new?). I (or the player) pound out some chords and arpeggios, recording the same sequence using several initial placements to rough in the placement. Then I repeat the procedure with finer adjustments to choose the final positioning. You can get several sonic signatures (“bright” vs. “dark”, “grand-like” vs. “honky-tonk”, etc.) by doing this.
FWIW, I generally also mic from the back (if it’s not flat against the wall or I can move it) to help pick up the soundboard, in addition to the top (or front) mics. Mixed in at a lower level, or perhaps EQ’d so it’s mostly bottom, the back mic can help fill out the sound.
Finally, as for a grand piano, a single mic hung out in the room may do the job just as well or even better. It can be quite frustrating (and humbling, and revealing) to find a simple omni (or cardioid) or two out in the room sounds better than the three or four mics around and in the piano you just spent several hours dialing in to perfection.