Need advice on recording a grand piano solo (cheaply)

Hi folks,

I want to record a piano solo, played on a grand piano. I don't have access to any up-market recording equipment, though, so I have to do it on the cheap...

I'm thinking along the lines of buying a microphone or two and recording onto a ghetto-blaster which we have.

Could this produce a reasonable-quality recording? Can you suggest any particular microphones I should get, and give any tips on placement, etc.?

Many thanks for any help.

Nope. The wow and flutter of the cheap little tape recorder will make your piano sound like it has vibrato. Total waste of time. There's no microphone good enough to save that one.

Larry Fletcher Pianos Inc Atlanta GA Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe Want to visit another piano related messageboard? Go to the piano discussion group on my website:
Http://www.pianosinc.net

Perhaps he could use his computer to record from the mic. At least he will get rid of the flutter. But I guess the micamp in most soundcards is crap and will not give very good results.

Bye, Christof

On 16 Jul 2002 16:51:36 +0200, Christof Pflumm

This is what I am thinking about. I'm getting quite good results multi-tracking on my desktop PC with a cheap soundcard, using line-ins from amps etc. So perhaps a decent couple of microphones going into the PC will be a solution - except for the awkward portability problem. Sadly my laptop is not quite up to the job.

Anthony, That's an interesting suggestion, Thanls. I have a Yamaha PSR 170 that might - just possibly - be realistic enough.... I'll have to try it and see how many listeners can tell if it's a real piano or not.

PS Unfortunately, the PSR170 is not touch-sensitive. Otherwise, the piano 'sound' is pretty good. Would you say a touch-sensiltive keyboard is essential for this job?

Thanks for the tip. I must remember to pay attention to that! Now I'm wondering about doing it on a decent electronic keyboard. Maybe I cen fool 'em (-:

Alan, I don't know if you want to spend the money, but I've got an Alesis QS-8, with a $100 Radio Shack amp and the two speakers that came with my Alesis. The QS-8 is a full 88-key piano with weighted keys. It doesn't have as much expression as an acoustic piano, but you can't have everything, right? <G> I have the Alesis hooked up to my computer with a MIDI cable, and for computer playback, I have 'Y' cable with 1/4' jacks at one end, and a 1/8' jack at the other that plugs directly into my soundcard after removing the speaker jacks from the back of the Alesis. For recording software, I use Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.0. The learning curve is somewhat steep, but there are tutorials online that should get you up and running with a minimum of headache. Also, if you happen to go with this setup, I would be more than happy to help you out with any of the basic setup and recording questions that you might have. All together, the whole setup cost me less than $3,000US.

Cheers,

What about simply hiring a local sound tech, who has good equipment? If you're just recording once (or a few times), that may be loads cheaper, with much better results (even though you won't have any cool new toys, um, *equipment* <g> afterwards).

You might try someone who works for folk music (dance or other), since they're apt to be flexible, creative, and reasonably priced. Chances are s/he would be able to make some high quality copies for you, too.

If you can do MIDI and a powerful computer, you can also have a look at Gigasampler or Steinberg's The Grand, which seem to be quite good emulating pianos.

Bye, Christof

A cheap used recording thingy could be the solution then. Korg makes a cheap 4 Track recorder IRC (I think it's called Pandora). Perhaps Roland and others have something similar.

Bye, Christof