Piano foot pedal / pedal assebly noise

Hi All,
      I mostly hang out in the Lab,  and have built several projects, completely amassed with this Forum and the wealth and sharing of knowledge, and love the sound of everything I have built , still consider myself a Newb as I definitely have a better understanding of audio electronics, but still lack an understanding of exactly how these circuits work. 

  More on Topic,  I've recorded Yamaha baby grand, 9' Bösendorfer , and two different 9' Steinways, and on all of them I get this " thump "  from the pedal / pedal assembly and was wondering if there is a solution to this / put foam under assembly / tighten something  etc. 

  I've EQ'ed to remove some of this "thump" , but dont like the way it changes the overall sound of the recording.

  Any suggestions / advice is greatly appreciated ,
 
  Thanks,
            chip

This is part of the "charm" of recording a real piano. Some have more of this component than others.

You can try to limit the travel of the damper "lift", so that they just clear the strings and don't have as much room on the downward stoke to achieve any velocity for the thump... Or, try to let the player know about it so that they can modulate their release motion of the pedal so it is not so abrupt (good luck with this.. usually, you get what you get from someone who has played piano for 15-20 years).

The method that I think produces the best results is to move the mics back several feet from the piano and let it bloom in the room.

So much depends on what you are trying to document! If it's Rock 'N Roll... just EQ the Cheeses out of the low end and hope the residual noise from the rest of the band covers you.

If it's Keith Jarrett, just buy a better piano that doesn't thump as much. In my experience, different pianos are better and worse...

Best of luck!

SS

Thanks studiostuff !

    That makes sense ...  I've  been a live guy for many years , dabbled in recording on and off, I have a steady live gig at a local University that happens to have a ProTools set up at the Mix position .. hence the close mic'ing, and fortunate enough to have mixed for some of the best Jazz musicians.
       
  will look in to limiting the "Damper " travel ( now that I know what its called )  lol

  Thanks again,
                    Chip

also helps to have a piano player who is not so heavy footed but when your really going off musically, sometimes it is unavoidable. Watch have far you adjust that dampner, might mess with the players a bit much like adjusting the action on someone Else's guitar.

  gottchya  Thanks !