My first experience miking a piano was about two decades ago. The Sunday school teacher at my church decided she wanted her first and second graders to perform in the “big church.” So, five volunteers carried a vintage Kimball upright piano into the main sanctuary and placed it in front of the platform. I had one rehearsal with the teacher and her children’s choir. During that rehearsal, I simply opened the top of the Kimball and positioned a Shure SM57 microphone (on a mic stand) slightly inside the piano at the middle of the harp. To my surprise and joy, it sounded pretty authentic.
At the actual event, I switched the 57 for a Shure SM58 and had an even better result. This one single event spurred me on my journey to become an expert at miking the acoustic piano.
A Few Basics
When miking a piano, it’s important to realize that a piano reproduces frequencies from 27.5 Hz to more than 4 kHz, and even much higher when you factor in harmonics and “air.” That is a very wide range of frequencies, and it is spread out over the size of the piano. An upright piano has one size harp, a baby grand has another size and a grand piano another. That said, I use one technique for uprights and another for grand pianos.
So, let’s look at the techniques I use to capture all those frequencies. As a volunteer at your sanctuary, you will be limited to the microphones your church has (unless you have your own). So, I will tell you what mics I currently use on pianos at the end of this article. Okay, on with my story.
Once I had used one microphone successfully on that Kimball upright, I figured two or three mics would sound better. Currently, I use two microphones when amplifying uprights. I set one towards the bass side of the harp and one towards the treble side. Using condenser mics, I set them about 24 inches apart. If I am mixing in a true stereo system, I might set the console channel pans to nine o’clock for the bass and three o’clock for the treble.
Even in a mono system, two mics are the way to go. I also want to capture the “attack” of the notes, but not damper noise or the mechanical sound of the hammers hitting the harp strings. So, I position my mics eight to ten inches from the hammers. I have been using this technique for the last 15 years with great success. However, in certain situations, I will position an additional microphone at the center of the soundboard at the back of the piano. Placing a third mic about eight inches from the soundboard sometimes adds a little more warmth and authenticity to the sound of the piano. I only use this technique when there are not many instruments being played on the platform, as I want to avoid sound bleeding into the microphone. That’s it on how I mic upright pianos.
Of course, you can use these exact techniques or experiment with your own. Maybe use three mics on the harp and two on the soundboard. Or whatever you want. Think of my techniques as a possible starting point. Okay, let’s check out my techniques for miking grand pianos.
A Grand Idea
With grand pianos I also use two condenser mics. I open the top of the piano. I set up one microphone on the bass side of the harp and one on the treble side. I set the mics about ten inches above the hammers and about 24 inches apart. This technique is very much like the upright piano mic placement, with comparable results. As with an upright piano, my goal is to capture an authentic piano sound, and this two-microphone technique seems to work quite well.
In certain situations, I also add another mic under the grand piano, below the soundboard. I will set my large diaphragm mic eight to ten inches from the soundboard at about the center of the piano. I learned this technique when I was mixing a Burt Bacharach concert at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Los Angeles.
I set up my microphones the way I usually do for a grand piano, and Burt’s tech told me he wanted a large diaphragm mic under the piano. At the time, the only large diaphragm mic I had with me was an Audix D6 — intended mainly as a kick drum mic. I was surprised by how good the mic sounded when combined with my two condensers microphones. Anyway, that show was about 12 years ago, and I have since incorporated the technique of also miking the soundboard into my bag of tricks. Of course, I mix my pianos in stereo when I can, but this technique is successful in either mono or stereo.
A Few Suggestions
Earlier, I said I would tell you what microphones I currently use. Over the years, I have settled on AKG C1000 condenser microphones for my pianos. I like using the supercardioid pattern when miking pianos. As for the soundboard, I like the Sennheiser MD421. I realize that there are a lot of microphones out there that you can use. I also realize that you are limited to the mics your house of worship has in its arsenal (unless you buy your own).
On the other hand, I have had the opportunity to use and test dozens of different microphones, and there is no doubt that great microphones make great audio easier. That doesn’t mean you can’t get good results with the mics you have. One thing you should do, when using multiple microphones on your piano, is to listen to the mics individually. Bring up the bass side microphone up by itself. Then bring up the treble side by itself.
Once you have what you think is an accurate sound from each mic, blend them together in the mix. If you are using one (or more) soundboard mics, do the same thing. Again, when you are satisfied with each individual microphone, blend them together. Good luck.
