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David Satz
 
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Default Small vs. large diaphragm condenser mikes for recording grand piano at home

Kelly wrote:

Hi all - I am going to purchase microphones to record my grand piano
(at my home) [ ... ] Does anyone have any suggestions or reference
information to help me decide whether to buy small or large diaphragm
condenser mikes? Thanks!


That normally isn't the first or the primary decision. First you have to
have a reasonably clear concept of what kind of sound you're hoping for,
and then you can make a plan for how to get it, if that's possible.

From everything I've read here, Oktava microphones from The Sound Room
might well be a good starting point for trying out some possibilities.
I don't use them myself, but I hear that they're not too expensive and
rather good sounding for the price. That's a good level to start out at.
Once you've used them in a bunch of ways and listened to the results, you
will (I hope) find that your perceptions and judgments about piano
recording will have progressed, such that you may find yourself thinking
about your whole conception of recorded piano sound somewhat differently.

That's experiential learning for you--a notoriously wayward process. But
if you're a musician, you already knew that ...

If your interest is in classical music or in other music that is normally
listened to in "real-world" acoustics rather than artificial/electronic,
you may find that it takes an "obscenely large" (to use Roy Allison's term)
living room with the right balance of materials to give you a satisfying
room sound. This can be quite frustrating since only rather wealthy people
can usually afford a living room that large and that specifically furnished.

There's a reason why the best studios for classical (or natural sounding
acoustic recording generally) are large, rare, and rather costly to rent.
Many good classical recordings are made in concert halls, churches and
other spaces that aren't, in themselves, recording studios for this reason.

But there's no guarantee whatsoever that you can get a beautiful piano
sound in a living room that's anything like most people's living rooms.
The laws of physics don't let you substitute anything else for the
required spatial proportions and volume of enclosed air, unfortunately.

If you want recordings that cleanly document what you're playing, you can
make relatively close, "dry" recordings that are well-balanced and accurate
within the context of documentary sound quality--and there's a fairly wide
variety of microphones which you can use for that purpose.