amplified sound from a grand piano

[TimR]

Apologies, I know this group is more attuned to recording sound than reinforcing sound, but maybe somebody knows.

I was at a convention, in a big ballroom with 500 people, the usual high ceiling but no airconditioner noise and it did have carpet, it wasn't too echoey.

When I heard the piano start I thought, "oh crap, a bad digital, an event this classy should have something better." (the pianist was excellent)

Then I looked closer. They had a decent Yamaha grand, with the lid barely open and mikes just behind the music desk, close to the strings, one on the bass and one on the treble.

As I listened, I realized the treble range really did sound like a good acoustic piano, but the bass!!!!!!!! ugh, that awful artificial slightly distorted sound in the left hand.

Could that have been fixed with a little adjustment?

[hank alrich]

TimR > wrote:

> Apologies, I know this group is more attuned to recording sound than
>reinforcing sound, but maybe somebody knows.
>
> I was at a convention, in a big ballroom with 500 people, the usual high
>ceiling but no airconditioner noise and it did have carpet, it wasn't
>too echoey.
>
> When I heard the piano start I thought, "oh crap, a bad digital, an event
>this classy should have something better." (the pianist was excellent)
>
> Then I looked closer. They had a decent Yamaha grand, with the lid barely
>open and mikes just behind the music desk, close to the strings, one on
>the bass and one on the treble.
>
> As I listened, I realized the treble range really did sound like a good
>acoustic piano, but the bass!!!!!!!! ugh, that awful artificial
>slightly distorted sound in the left hand.
>
> Could that have been fixed with a little adjustment?
>

Can only speculate without having heard both the piano itself on site,
and then the live reinforcement. There are very many ways for this to go
wrong. For instance, get the mic on the low end too close to the
strings, then screw up gain staging so we clip the low end a bit, and
the result can fit your description pretty well.

--
shut up and play your guitar * HankAlrich.Com
HankandShaidriMusic.Com
YouTube.Com/WalkinayMusic

[Mike Rivers[_2_]]

On 2/9/2015 1:14 AM, TimR wrote:
> When I heard the piano start I thought, "oh crap, a bad digital, an
> event this classy should have something better." (the pianist was
> excellent)
>
> Then I looked closer. They had a decent Yamaha grand, with the lid
> barely open and mikes just behind the music desk, close to the
> strings, one on the bass and one on the treble.
>
> As I listened, I realized the treble range really did sound like a
> good acoustic piano, but the bass!!!!!!!! ugh, that awful artificial
> slightly distorted sound in the left hand.
>
> Could that have been fixed with a little adjustment?

Probably, with some adjustment with the mic placement and the mix of the
two mics. It was probably set up by the venue's A/V crew who rarely get
anything more exciting to work with than a podium mic and a projector.


--
For a good time, visit http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com

[Scott Dorsey]

TimR > wrote:
>Apologies, I know this group is more attuned to recording sound than reinforcing sound, but maybe somebody knows.
>
>I was at a convention, in a big ballroom with 500 people, the usual high ceiling but no airconditioner noise and it did have carpet, it wasn't too echoey.
>
>When I heard the piano start I thought, "oh crap, a bad digital, an event this classy should have something better." (the pianist was excellent)
>
>Then I looked closer. They had a decent Yamaha grand, with the lid barely open and mikes just behind the music desk, close to the strings, one on the bass and one on the treble.
>
>As I listened, I realized the treble range really did sound like a good acoustic piano, but the bass!!!!!!!! ugh, that awful artificial slightly distorted sound in the left hand.
>
>Could that have been fixed with a little adjustment?

Yes.
The thing is, a lot of the people who do conference jobs really don't know
more than just "I put this here and I put that there and I set this knob to
this number." Which, given the pay, shouldn't really surprise anyone.

I do recording work at a bunch of corporate events and it's very interesting
to see the range of skill among the PA crew. Occasionally you find real
experts, more often you find people who can't find their own feet. This is
made worse by the rooms often being pretty dreadful so skill is often required.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."