Recording technique

For da X, what do you think of this setup? What sort of mics are these? The fact that they are pointed suggests they’re cards, no? Also what’s the purpose of raising them above the lid, won’t that lead to a less focused sound?

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@xsdc. no comment?

Oh, I’m not subscribing to this forum section so the thread was invisible to me until you tagged me now.

It’s hard to say without knowing the room. Spontaneously I don’t believe in that at all, but if the acoustics are poor - which they often are in smaller rooms - it helps to put the mics closer to the piano, so it could be that in this hall this distance is the best compromise. But either way it won’t result in a good recording, only “better” than it would have been from a farther distance. I’ve also never been a fan of such high positions. I have no experiences of them when the mics are this close, but you sometimes see them at the Moscow Conservatory and Tokyo’s NHK Hall for instance where I think the recordings lack body when they do that (it’s not just the lid, the floor gives off strong bass reflexes as well you also move further away from by putting them high). Also harder to make swaths of sounds sound good, when the mics “see” the strings rather than the wood you tend to get an almost unnatural clarity. In piano it’s after all usually not the trees you want, but the forest.

I don’t recognize the microphones, and both cardioids and omnis look visually the same, but cardioids have a built in “zoom” effect and from that distance I would guess it’s omnis - in which case the direction indeed has a negligible effect. Since they won’t be 100% ideal they still have some directionality however, so there’s no reason not to point them towards the sound source, but you need to remember that they will pick up sound as a point sensor in space where they are sitting. You can’t use them as a flashlight and put them next to the piano and “direct them” towards where you want them to listen. It would perhaps have been better if they could be built as small spheres or similar, in which case it would have been more intuitive that they behave like point sensors (this for omnis then, cardioids do have a bit of a flashlight profile, and shotguns a lot so).

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Thanks. Another question: why use two mics for each channel?

Hm, that’s an excellent question. It looks like it’s the same model too. Maybe they’re using two different pre-amps/recorders, not sure which will deliver the best results?

Definitely wouldn’t put them that close myself. And the ones on the right appear to be above the angle of the lid, which is obviously a sound directing device, not under it…

I was thinking about this the other day listening to Gekic Soirees album again. All the pianistic effect liszt put in there really don’t make sense without some distance from the piano. Interestingly, I cranked the volume on my beloved THX AAA789 (the best HP amp value on earth) to hear the initial sounds vs ambient mix and the playing was not quite perfect though the aggregate effects were.

I’m starting to wonder if these professional sound engineers actually know what they’re doing.

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The chief sound engineer here in S is a former bass player in a rock band. He told me a few years ago I’d never believe how many sound engineers in Europe are former bass players.

I did. :slight_smile:

I only use da “latest” page, wouldn’t have a clue where anything is anymore without proper investigation. Am I da only one that does that?

Nope, same here. But you can unsubscribe to threads and sections so they no longer show up in the feed.

I’m only unsubbed to TM threads. :tm:

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I missed da whole Lolita thread. Can’t be arsed reading 500 comments now.

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You didn’t miss anything interesting.

It’s constantly mentioned so I do feel a little out of da loop. Brief summary? TM chats up underage chick and gets nowhere?

Yes, but more pathetic and with uninteresting screenshots of their boring text convos.

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Dude’s a bit obsessed with texting. I guess that’s what happens when your parents strip your life of external value. I wonder how his mother will react if she loses the feeling that she can achieve glory through him. It’s not right to control some else’s life.

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