Recording pianos well is a really tricky thing to do. This is partly because everyone knows how a piano sounds and you are always trying to match up to that, and partly because they are huge.
There are a number of different approaches that you can try using close mics, ambient mics, or a combination of the two. The first time you have to record a piano can be daunting, so we’ve written a few tutorials to help you understand how pianos actually create sound, and how to get started with rigging some microphones.
Recording Piano: How Pianos Generate Sound
Understanding how pianos create and transmit sound is very useful when it comes to recording. It makes it much easier to find decent sounding microphone positions.
Recording Piano: Close Omni Mics
This is a standard close mic recording technique for pianos. Covers rigging and positioning the mics
Recording Piano: The Soundboard
A very close mic technique for pianos, designed to give a very direct sound which is useful to blend with other techniques
Recording Piano: Mics Near The Hammers
Placing microphones near the hammers will give your piano a very close and tight sound
