Over recent years, numerous acoustical instruments have been replaced on the sanctuary platform by digital samples, artfully played by keyboard wizards or skillfully programmed by the author of the high quality tracks our musicians deploy to enhance their performances. Brass, wind and even stringed instrument parts (think banjos, for instance) are often played from a keyboard controller. Most frequently, however, it’s the piano that is presented in the form of digital samples in lieu of the genuine article — so much so that we all giggle at the oft-repeated phrase “where the Nord is, the Lord is.” Nevertheless, genuine acoustical pianos are still popular and reasonably common in sanctuaries everywhere. Therefore, we must have a handle on how to go about miking them in order to deliver their sound with the highest level of quality. Miking pianos is a bit like miking drums… ask any five engineers how to do it, and they’ll give you 15 different responses. Let’s take a look at the practical considerations and get a handle on some functional ways to go about it.
Security Check
Before we get too deeply into our central topic, let’s quickly discuss a related topic that shouldn’t need to be mentioned, but nevertheless it probably does. I’ll just come right out and say it. Physically secure the mics like your career depends on it. One solution here is magnetic mounts, such as the Audio-Technica ATM350PL miniature cardioid condensers shown in Fig. 1, which securely fasten to the piano’s harp, yet are easily moved (or removed) without damaging the instrument.
A mic drooping (or even worse yet, literally falling) onto the strings of a piano can be pretty disastrous. A certain golden-voiced English songbird suffered this calamity during a live internationally-televised performance in recent years, and it’s a safe bet that the engineer responsible for the debacle is probably flipping burgers for a living now. Please ensure that microphones are sturdily secured and will not interfere with any instrument or performer, much less the piano.
Mic Selection and Placement
Okay, back to our regularly-scheduled program. If you’re using a grand piano, the most common technique is to get a pair of small-diaphragm condenser mics directly over the strings near the hammers — one dedicated to the low-end and one dedicated to the high-end of the piano. The close proximity of the mics to the strings delivers plenty of attack, hence this technique probably delivers an image closest to the bright, transient piano samples that tend to be popular in digital pianos. Do like good engineers always do: Have your pianist play, and lean your head in close and listen to hear if you can find the sweet spots. There’s no question that some places sound better than others, and getting your mic there will go a long way toward giving you a great-sounding piano.
One nice advantage of this two-mic method is that if you choose to present them as a stereo pair, you can get a nice wide, enveloping piano, but presenting them in mono panned dead-center gives you a nice way to control the tone of the piano. By leaning the blend more toward the low-end mic, you can get a darker tone, and by leaning closer to the high-end mic, you can brighten things up a bit, even thinning the piano out a touch. I’m constantly carping about letting the bass be the bass, and pulling some of the low-end out of the piano certainly accomplishes this, because the lowest lows of the piano can certainly compete with a bass guitar or synthetic bass. This technique is not much different from the notion of finding a snare drum blend by changing the balance between top and bottom mics. I find that when I present a stereo piano, I usually pan the mics to the player’s perspective, but there’s no rule saying you must go that way if your stereo image benefits from putting the right hand in the left channel, make it so!
Spaced pairs are not the only way to go about miking a grand piano. I have had great success with X/Y pairs, Blumlein pairs and even mid-side techniques. But bear in mind that every different stereo miking scheme is going to present its own unique phase issues. As long as you’re aware of this, you will be fine. Let your ear be your guide and if you’re hearing comb filtering, you might look at changing up panning or even moving mics a bit.
There are a few reasons why you might want to capture your piano with a single microphone. Pianos are almost always going to be the instrument richest in harmonics, so they tend to compete with literally everything else in the mix. Presenting a monophonic piano at least helps you to locate all that overtone-rich content somewhere in the stereo image where it doesn’t compete as much and has its own space. Obviously, equalization is going to be very helpful by way of “trimming to fit,” but moving the piano to a good spot can make a useful difference as well.
One last thing I’ll toss out there for consideration regarding grand piano miking: taking a nice reflection off the underside of the lid. Our aforementioned close-miking schemes can be done with lid open, closed, or short-sticked whichever delivers the best tone for the job. But a nice, gentler and more ambient tone can be captured by pointing a mic or two toward the angled underside of the piano lid. This technique will be less common simply because we normally want to present instruments as exclusively through the P.A. as we can… usually. If allowing some acoustical bleed from the piano along with the mic signal from the P.A. blends well and sounds nice, go for it!
Upright pianos present a bit more of a challenge, and a substantial number of acoustical pianos used in worship are of the upright variety. Miking low, front or back, will yield some nice, rich harmonics, but you’re not going to capture much in the way of attack, not to mention that front placement will also include a lot of bench and pedal noise. Going to the top can grant you that hammer attack, but at the expense of the round fullness of the instrument. You’re probably best to use a hybrid approach and blend mics to arrive at the tone you want. This is true whether you’re planning on a mono or stereo capture. A well-tuned upright piano can deliver a really nice tone that complements worship music very well.
What about microphone topology? There are those who swear by condenser mics and there are those who swear by dynamics. As is the case with poking one’s head in to find sweet spots, it’s truly about what sounds best. Almost all pro quality mics of both topologies are capable of capturing the entire range of the piano (particularly in consideration of the fact that the higher you go up the keys of the instrument, the fewer harmonics there are). Use mics with which you are familiar and comfortable. Test drive a variety until you find the one(s) that sound best. We should also consider the venerable PZM. They can present a great capture of the piano’s tone, and they also have the added benefit of being easier to conceal, because they’re… well, flat. PZM mics are gaffed to the underside of grand piano lids pretty commonly. Sounds good and looks good too.
As with miking other instruments, there are no rules — only guidelines. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Work with the situation you’ve got, not against it, and you’ll be able to capture the sound of your piano and make it sound nice.
John McJunkin is the chief engineer and staff producer in the studio at Grand Canyon University.
