MidnightArrakis
Well-known member
[The studio is not AR but the University of Surrey] -- I don't care where the photo was taken.....it -- STILL -- reminds me of The Beatles studio photos!!! "Let It Be".....OK???
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little by little, some prototype
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JeffKall
Well-known member
This thread is the perfect compendium of why there is no absolute RIGHT WAY to record a grand piano (but arguably an endless number of wrong ways) …
In “Get Back” during the Apple Studios sessions, Glyn Johns used the standard Pop protocol of positioning the single Neumann U67 (for mono) close to the harp …
It’s interesting to note that there are several great mono recordings of grand piano prior to the days of stereo …
Alan Blumlein began experimenting with stereo at Abbey Road (EMI in those days) in 1931… with Decca first employing their Decca Tree in Classical recording in1954 using 3 Neumann M49’s over the conductor … and leading the changeover when they began to employ their array in their stereo releases …
The Decca array for Classical grand piano recording spawned many variations of the concept in other musical genres …
Engineer Al Schmitt used a version that frequently employed either Neumann M49’s or M50’s … although his absolute favorite overall microphone was the Neumann U67 he preferred the M50’s for grand piano
(I worked with Al’s brother Russell at Devonshire Sound Studios back in the 80’s) …
A good example of Al’s grand piano recordings can be found on the Norah Jones & Ray Charles “Here We Go Again”, which was the Record Of The Year in 2004 …
Al’s mentor Tom Dowd made one of the most beautiful grand piano recordings in Pop on the Derek and the Dominos “Layla” Piano Exit coda … played by drummer Jim Gordon …which was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida in 1970 … engineered by Ron and Howie Albert using two AKG 414’s sitting on foam inside a closed lid 9’ Baldwin covered with three layers of packing quilts …
So … let’s face it …
We will NEVER achieve a consensus on the BEST way to record a grand piano !
Subsequently … the point of all this is simply:
Record grand piano to your personal taste !
In “Get Back” during the Apple Studios sessions, Glyn Johns used the standard Pop protocol of positioning the single Neumann U67 (for mono) close to the harp …
It’s interesting to note that there are several great mono recordings of grand piano prior to the days of stereo …
Alan Blumlein began experimenting with stereo at Abbey Road (EMI in those days) in 1931… with Decca first employing their Decca Tree in Classical recording in1954 using 3 Neumann M49’s over the conductor … and leading the changeover when they began to employ their array in their stereo releases …
The Decca array for Classical grand piano recording spawned many variations of the concept in other musical genres …
Engineer Al Schmitt used a version that frequently employed either Neumann M49’s or M50’s … although his absolute favorite overall microphone was the Neumann U67 he preferred the M50’s for grand piano
(I worked with Al’s brother Russell at Devonshire Sound Studios back in the 80’s) …
A good example of Al’s grand piano recordings can be found on the Norah Jones & Ray Charles “Here We Go Again”, which was the Record Of The Year in 2004 …
Al’s mentor Tom Dowd made one of the most beautiful grand piano recordings in Pop on the Derek and the Dominos “Layla” Piano Exit coda … played by drummer Jim Gordon …which was recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida in 1970 … engineered by Ron and Howie Albert using two AKG 414’s sitting on foam inside a closed lid 9’ Baldwin covered with three layers of packing quilts …
So … let’s face it …
We will NEVER achieve a consensus on the BEST way to record a grand piano !
Subsequently … the point of all this is simply:
Record grand piano to your personal taste !
k brown
Well-known member
The Decca tree with M49s was only a brief experiment; of which there were several (with baffles/without, etc.) over about a three year period. Except for a few releases using KM56s in cardioid mode (most famously, their Ring cycle) they very quickly settled on three M50s.
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