A quick question about mic'ing the lower front panel... Doesn't the
mic pick up a lot of foot noise?

That's more a player problem than a recording problem. Haven't really run into,
though I almost never have to record upright anymore. I find the often very
funky damper pedal mechanism to be more of a problem.

or am I looking at the wrong side of the piano?

No, that's the right side.

(FYI, I've used a
simple XY pair about 6ft away and got good results. I've always found
a piano to need several feet of distance before it sounds right.

Yup, depending on the room.

Even
without a mic, just placing your ear near the piano and then walking
away, it takes 5 or 6 ft before it sounds "right". And I like XY
because it helps me avoid that unnatural 20ft wide piano that shows up
on so many recordings.)


Not sure what acoustic concept inspired the approach of putting one mic 6" from
the strings, & the other 6" from the strings, but 4 feet distant from the other
mic. Maybe the mistaken notion that treble comes from the area under the treble
strings & bass comes from the area under the bass strings.


Scott Fraser