[Carey Carlan]

Typically, the piano is in front of the chorus, which puts it closer to the
microphones than the vocalists. I fight all the time to balance the piano
down and the chorus up--especially with young singers who don't project.

This time, the piano was perhaps 15 feet from the (very good adult)
performers, 4 or 5 feet behind and to the right of the conductor. In this
unusual setting, hypercardioids between the piano and the chorus allowed me
to place the piano in the rather sharp null, mostly eliminating the clunky,
out of tune sound while retaining enough of the "feel" to let the brain
fill in the rest.

"Was there a piano in the recording?"
"Oh, sure."
"How did it sound?"
"I didn't notice."