Alex Rodriguez
MUTC 320-01
September 30, 2016
For the piano recording, we decided it was easier to have Emily play the piano rather than try to find someone at the last minute. We used Clair de Lune on all samples on the piano in the recording lab. The biggest issue we had to deal with was a loud sustain pedal. Because it was very noticeable when just playing without recording, it was something that we tried to minimize for our ideal recording.
There was one mic test that we did not record and with was from soundpure.com’syoutubechannel. In this set up, we placed two small condenser microphones in a spaced pair over the hammers of the piano. One from the bass side and the other from the treble side. But because of the loud sustain pedal, the notes were being covered each time the pedal was pressed. So we scrapped that idea before hitting the record button.
The first recorded mic test was two small condenser microphones slightly outside of the piano in a XY style shown in class.
That test gave us a very full tone and would’ve been a great setting if it wasn’t for the pedal noise.
The second test was a somewhat similar placement but with the microphones pointed downward inside the microphone.
While there seemed to be more output and more bass, I felt it didn’t have the treble the first option. In retrospect, it would’ve been better to place the left microphone closer to the treble strings.
The third test was placing the C5 in the center of the piano. While our audio book has that example with the lid removed, we had to work around the lid.
This was my least favorite of the tests. The echoing from the lid made this test unbearable to listen. I was truly shocked with how much it affected the sound. The overall output was good but there was a point where the echoing almost drowned out the sound of the piano.
The fourth test was placing the two small condenser Audio Technica mics in ORTF inside the piano. The mics were off center but one pointing to the bass strings and the other mic to the treble strings.
For tone and output, this was my favorite test. The response of the bass and treble were fantastic. The only issue that kept me from using this as my main choice was the pedal noise which I wanted to reduce in the recording as much as possible.
The fifth test was using two large condenser microphones outside of the piano to give more of an ambient sound as shown at soundonsound.com. The microphones were a couple feet away from the body of the piano
This is the recording we decided to make a final recording because it minimized the amount of pedal noise while still giving a nice ambient sound. This was nice because it gave a sort of audience perspective to the solo piano performance.
The last test was almost exactly like the fifth test but using the two ribbon microphones instead of the large condensers. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo if this set up. We did notice a much lower output on this one. Since Emily was playing a relatively calm piece, we decided to move the mics about half a foot closer to the piano compared to the previous test. While the pedal noise was almost nonexistent in this recording, the overall tone and output was my least favorite. I had to push the volume all the way up to hear the notes properly and even then the lows were very minimal and the mids and highs were muffled. Out of all the tests that we recorded, this was my least favorite.