Uploaded July 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Using sDPA microphones including interesting Boundary Mounts to try out in this video! We decided to try a few unusual mic placements for a more 'solo piano' sound, see what you think :-)
01:45 Overview
03:50 Audio samples
06:01 Reviews of the mics in the control room
07:25 About the microphones in more detail
10:30 Further audio samples as Danny tweaks the balance
There are many well documented ways to record and capture great piano sounds but there is always another approach that might suit a particular track - having the time to experiment is always an issue on sessions where a quick and guaranteed piano sound is needed in the heat of a session so often we end up going for a good tried and tested technique.
It’s nice to have time to step back and think about different approaches that might offer additional variety to draw upon when the situation demands. On a recent piano recording workshop with several engineers it was impressive how the same piano with the same player can sound so different with a varied range of techniques, each sounding good but maybe one might suit a particular track and so on. So, it’s always good to have a bunch of techniques ‘in a bag’ that you can reach for speedily knowing what to expect.
This is why it’s great to have the time in a lovely studio such as Ten 87 in Tottenham, London. And have access to their Yamaha baby grand. Their piano sounds great and Rob and the team at the studio kindly let us have time in the studio for a morning so that could experiment with a method he had been interested in trying for some time. This video documents the experimentation but edited out the previous attempt at using a pair of Coles over the soundboard.
Studio assistant engineer, and seriously impressive musician, Amelia Lawn, helped set up and played some improvised piano for us so that we could compare the mic setups documented in this video.
The video hopefully demonstrates an alternative style of recording that might prove useful on the right session. It might also trigger some experimentation and if you have an interesting way of recording piano and would like to be involved, please let us know so we can visit you.
A big thank you to Rob and everyone at Ten 87 Studios for giving us access, Amelia Lawn for not only helping set the session up but being a brilliant musician and thank you to Danny Trachtenberg for taking time out and making this feature possible.
Danny’s website afoundsound.co.uk
Amelia’s website amelialawn.co.uk
Ten 87’s website https://ten87.studio
Please subscribe and click the notification bell to our channel: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=recordproductioncom
Website: RecordProduction.com
Using sDPA microphones including interesting Boundary Mounts to try out in this video! We decided to try a few unusual mic placements for a more 'solo piano' sound, see what you think :-)
01:45 Overview
03:50 Audio samples
06:01 Reviews of the mics in the control room
07:25 About the microphones in more detail
10:30 Further audio samples as Danny tweaks the balance
There are many well documented ways to record and capture great piano sounds but there is always another approach that might suit a particular track - having the time to experiment is always an issue on sessions where a quick and guaranteed piano sound is needed in the heat of a session so often we end up going for a good tried and tested technique.
It’s nice to have time to step back and think about different approaches that might offer additional variety to draw upon when the situation demands. On a recent piano recording workshop with several engineers it was impressive how the same piano with the same player can sound so different with a varied range of techniques, each sounding good but maybe one might suit a particular track and so on. So, it’s always good to have a bunch of techniques ‘in a bag’ that you can reach for speedily knowing what to expect.
This is why it’s great to have the time in a lovely studio such as Ten 87 in Tottenham, London. And have access to their Yamaha baby grand. Their piano sounds great and Rob and the team at the studio kindly let us have time in the studio for a morning so that could experiment with a method he had been interested in trying for some time. This video documents the experimentation but edited out the previous attempt at using a pair of Coles over the soundboard.
Studio assistant engineer, and seriously impressive musician, Amelia Lawn, helped set up and played some improvised piano for us so that we could compare the mic setups documented in this video.
The video hopefully demonstrates an alternative style of recording that might prove useful on the right session. It might also trigger some experimentation and if you have an interesting way of recording piano and would like to be involved, please let us know so we can visit you.
A big thank you to Rob and everyone at Ten 87 Studios for giving us access, Amelia Lawn for not only helping set the session up but being a brilliant musician and thank you to Danny Trachtenberg for taking time out and making this feature possible.
Danny’s website afoundsound.co.uk
Amelia’s website amelialawn.co.uk
Ten 87’s website https://ten87.studio
Please subscribe and click the notification bell to our channel: youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=recordproductioncom
Website: RecordProduction.com
