Recording a grand piano (acoustics)

Steinberg Lounge
#1

Hello,

I’m new in this forum. I’m from France and I hope my English is not too bad…

I have a grand piano Yamaha and I would like to record it (I play especially classical). I’ve read some pages on the Internet about it and it seems it’s very difficult to record an acoustics piano. For example, I read it needs two microphones, etc.

I also possess a laptop (Windows).

What hardware/software from Steinberg could be helpful for me ? For instance, UR products seem interesting, but can we use them with two microphones ? Shortly, what kind of equipment would you advise me to get ?

Thanks in advance for your answers,

Bruno

#2

Welcome to the forum :slight_smile:


Your budget will dictate the gear. And your budget is???

#3

OMG - it’s terrible!

:laughing:

As WS says, your budget is key. See what I did there? “key”. Ha.

You need several things to record a piano properly.

  1. Good piano (seems like you already have that)
  2. A good sounding room (most homes/apartments are not suitable)
  3. Good mics (KM84s, U87s, U67s, 414s, C12s, etc), which will depend at least in part on the style of music
  4. Good mic pre - simply going to the input of a sound card/interface is generally not suitable
  5. Good mic placement
  6. Possibly a good compressor on the way in, if required (don’t let anyone tell you not to do this!)

Just an FYI: many people new to recording will set up a pair of SM57s, or a couple of Rode NT1-As, go into a Focusrite (or like) interface , and do the recording in their house, and will later turn around wondering why the recording doesn’t sound all that great. :neutral_face:

Cheers.