Re: Piano live recording (was: Live recording)
On Tue, 4 May 2021 at 18:17, 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. Is > it > better to use mono or omni directional microphones? In particular, which do > you suggest between Bheringer B5 either Behringer C2 twins? Hi. Even though this list is extraordinarily helpful, please don't have conversations here that are entirely unrelated to Debian. You could ask questions about microphone technique on linux-audio-u...@lists.linuxaudio.org which is also very helpful with many knowledgeable readers responding. And I see you were active on that list recently, so perhaps you accidentally sent this question to the wrong list?
Re: Piano live recording (was: Live recording)
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.
Re: Piano live recording (was: Live recording)
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. Is > it > better to use mono or omni directional microphones? In particular, which do > you suggest between Bheringer B5 either Behringer C2 twins? The B5 is a general purpose instrument mic with both cardioid and omni capsules (swappable). You can put one in each position and figure out which you like where. You will get the instrument sound and little else. If your room is not particularly good, or you will be sending your part in to be mixed with others, this is a pretty good idea. The C2 is a pair of cardioids designed for recording in stereo at a distance. If you are performing in a particular space and want to capture the experience of being in the audience, or you want to capture a live event, or any other situation where you want the whole rather than individual instruments to be mixed later, the C2 is what you want -- except that a pair of B5s with the cardioid capsules can do the same job, so a pair of B5s is more flexible. -dsr-
Re: Piano live recording (was: Live recording)
Shure publishes a doc for best using microphones for particular instruments (grand and upright pianos: pages 24-25): https://www.shure.com/damfiles/default/global/documents/publications/en/performance-production/microphone_techniques_for_live_sound_reinforcement_english.pdf-3df433145fca686a736beeb5da588efa.pdf
Piano live recording (was: Live recording)
Hi all. 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. Is it better to use mono or omni directional microphones? In particular, which do you suggest between Bheringer B5 either Behringer C2 twins? Thanks for any help, Rodolfo