On Tue, 4 May 2021, at 09:16, Rodolfo Medina wrote: > > I've just bought a Behringer UMC404HD audio interface and want to record live > piano by placing two microphones one at the trebles and one at the bass.
The result of recording like this will (presumably) mimic what a player would hear, but won't sound so much like what any listener some distance from the piano would hear. You might also capture more noise from the mechanical action, than would be apparent at a distance. If people are listening to a pianist, in a concert hall, none of the listeners sit under or just over the piano, and none are usually hearing bass in one ear and treble in the other! In a concert hall, the ambience/reverberation characteristics of the hall will make a big difference to the result, as will things like whether (for a grand piano) wheher the lid is up a little or a lot. For an upright piano you might also think about whether its lid is open, and whether the piano is against a wall. There's also a philosophical difference between the sort of mic placement you're thinking of doing - close-micing an instrument and then (perhaps) applying digital effects, EQ etc afterwards, versus simply trying to capture the sound/feel of the instrument in the space it is in. > Is it better to use mono or omni directional microphones? Omni-directional mics are also mono, usually. The polar response (ie omni / figure of 8 / cardioid / hypercardioid) is not a mono/stereo choice. Stereo (or multi-channel) mics in a single body may also offer control over the "width" of the stereo image, or even (eg for Soundfield mics) the ability to adjust the array of capsules so they appear to tilt/point in different directions. -- Jeremy Nicoll - my opinions are my own.
