20 TIPS for recording your GRAND PIANO! (Secrets exposed)

I know we all struggle with this... Recording a grand piano can be the most complicated thing ever! But I will try to make your journey easier by sharing what I've learned SO FAR! There are still many things left to discover. I will keep you updated once I learn more!!!
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and show your free support to my channel if you want to see more videos like this one and lots of classical music and piano covers! :)
0:00 - Intro
0:12 - Recording Example 1
1:18 - Use two condenser microphones
2:03 - Recording Example 2
2:34 - Microphone preamps
3:54 - AD/DA audio converter (optional)
5:02 - Audio panning
5:53 - Use a compressor
7:45 - Avoid audio phasing
8:48 - Tone change
9:16 - Apply some EQ
9:43 - Preamp Gain
10:13 - Mic positioning
10:47 - Sample rate
11:07 - Turn off your AC
11:20 - Use Small XLR cables
12:01 - Test your audio ouput levels
12:32 - Dedicated recording unit
12:56 - 3 or 4 mics?
13:43 - Don't use a high pass filter
14:28 - Audacity
15:15 - Check the wave forms
15:48 - Not really a relevant tip BUT...
17:52 - Bloopers... Haha!
Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Opus 3, No. 2.
• Rachmaninoff's "Death"...
MY GEAR:
Kawai Digital Keyboard: amzn.to/3GaFS7T
Bose Headphones: amzn.to/38G3h4Z
Studio Lighting Kit: amzn.to/3lQlwI5
Motorized Camera Slider: amzn.to/3lw2Qgj
Social Media Subs Counter: amzn.to/39KK2qX
Sony Alpha 7 III camera (Body only): amzn.to/3lAglLY
Piano Mic System: amzn.to/3PCyWEY
Mic Pre-Amp: amzn.to/3MELOsi
Piano LED Lights: amzn.to/3MCApJL
Voice Microphone: amzn.to/3PA32sG
*This description contains affiliate links. If you click on one of them, I may receive a commission from qualifying purchases. (Another way to support to support this channel!)
---------------------------------------------
Here's a list of other piano microphones that I recommend: MXL Mics 770, Shure SM57, Rode NT5, AKG Pro Audio C414 XLS, Rode M5, Neumann U87 Ai Stereo, Sennheiser MKH 8020, Neumann TLM 102, Shure SM7B Cardioid Dynamic Microphone, Rode NT1-A Cardioid Condenser Microphone, Audio-Technica AT2020.
Hope you've liked my Kawai GX6 grand piano!
Honor your thoughts,
Michael
#GrandPiano #AcousticRecording #AcousticPiano #HowToMicAPiano

[@OneHandPianoMan]

I hope to one day have a grand piano to utilize these tips. I am sure it is an amazing experience playing it every day. Congrats, Michael. This video is sure to help many people across the globe. 🤗❤️🙌🎹💯💥

[@AlicsonPiano]

Hi. There is a few things I would like to correct/add. One thing you did not mentionned is the room, having a room with a good acoustic really matter a lot when recording, you have to avoid the flat surfaces with lots of reflection such as tiles or windows. Also you did not mentionned the stereo recording technique that you can use, you have the AB with omnidirectionnal pattern, XY & ORTF with cardioid pattern, blumlein with figure 8 pattern and many others that are great to know to record a piano. Also you have to know that small diaphram static microphone will have a higher and more realistic dynamic than the large diaphram that will more be into the character of the piano. Static microphone are not the only one used to record a piano, ribbon mics are also great (carefull they need good preamps), pzm or dynamic mic can also be an option. You can use a stereo pair to record the piano close, an other one to record the room, but you can also use some mics to add a color to the sound (could be a ribbon mics arround the bass part, some pzm also). You also did not mentionned the tuning of the piano. A few things I disagrea : - compression is not a thing to avoid saturation, the main purpose of compressing a piano is to reduce the dynamic or to gives it more presence, if you set your gain correctly you should not have saturation even without a compressor, also, don't forget to keep at least 6dB of headroom :) - you don't need a 3000€ converter, if you have a good audio interface, they have really great converter, and when you can buy a 3000€ converter, you can also buy a great audio interface. - I recommand using a low cut, low cut isnt only about 80hz, you can use a low cut at 30-40hz and this will not delete the bass. You can of course go higher if needed. Things I agree with you : - good preamps are indeed really important in the process, your warm audio is a good choice and not really expensive. - digital piano is an option, it cost way more less money, and there is really decent vst nowadays - audio phasing is important, you have to thing about that when placing the microphones, and you can also adjust the phase in post Thank you for sharing your experience anyway and I hope I helped some people with that comment.

[@boje8304]

Thank you for addressing this. The piano is a complicated instrument with MANY variables, the person in the video saying «only do this» and «do not do that» with zero headroom for different scenarios is not a positive mindset when recording, perhaps even a little harmful.

[@anman366]

Thank you for all of the great tips!! This is awesome! :)

[@pardonmypiano]

You are so welcome!!! I'm making another video about my KZbin piano journey. Will be posting it soon!

[@mgpiano]

Now I feel bad with my two little mics. 😂😂 ... I think, this is one of the most useful and detailed tutorials for recording a grand piano I'v ever seen. It's so hard to get such an extensive sound recorded properly and I still can learn a lot for my recordings... 🙈🙈 ... but it motivates me to enhance my recording skills... Thank you very much for sharing your experiences! Really cool! 👍👍👍🍀🍀

[@amnbvcxz8650]

We’re making similar facial expressions while playing this piece 😄

[@pianistkim88]

What a great video. Just what I needed. You're an articulate teacher! Thank you for this video

[@perforMING88]

Thank you for the useful tips... it always been a headache to record live acoustic piano... Great technical insights and comparisons... totally agree with the last tip - digital keyboard to safe the hassle

[@montserratipina6741]

thank you very much for the tips I will put them into practice when I have a piano :)♥️

[@vintagebikes4215]

What an incredibly detailed discussion, of great interest to me as I attempt to mic my recently renovated (did it myself) 1883 Steinway grand piano. Thx.

[@pardonmypiano]

thank you!! :) what mics are you thinking to use? Also, don't forget to check my new Chopin video with added low synth!! :)

[@ixamedia6572]

Very thorough! Thank you!

[@pardonmypiano]

thank you! I'm glad you found the info valuable :)

[@DavidIzquierdoAzzouz]

Big thanks, your tips are incredibly well explained and useful, I especially liked the last one about simply using a DP to get some decent recording perhaps, that's what I do and I have to say that even though I'm facing some challenges when it comes down to normalizing/compressing tracks for youtube... You may want to address that topic in the future, especially while using external VST like Pianoteq or others, greetings from Spain and all the best!

[@KUBADUPAPUPADUMB]

Thank you so much for doing this video. I'm new to this, and this was a great springboard.

[@pardonmypiano]

I’m so happy that we have connected here on KZbin! ☺️ where are you from and for how long have you been playing the piano?

[@KUBADUPAPUPADUMB]

@@pardonmypiano I'm Polish, and I'm doing my PhD in piano right now. But I've never recorded myself personally. I just bought two NT1s with an SSL2+ and what I've done so far sounds terrible... but using some of your suggestions I'm super eager to try out new things this weekend!

[@johnforster1963]

Best recording tuition demo iv'e ever came across . a digital keyboard recording and a speaker setup would also be a awesome video

[@boicuadrian]

Awesome video🔥🔥🔥

[@pardonmypiano]

Thank you, Adrian!!!

[@aurelianepuras]

Super!

[@pardonmypiano]

thank you!

[@CelliniCreations]

Tips to record your grand piano: spend as much on audio equipment as you did you your piano

[@rudysteyvers5902]

Thanks for the good tutorial!

[@pardonmypiano]

Glad it was helpful!

[@leoscomments]

Great tips. It would be great to have an in depth tutorial on how you connect each gear to each other, the types of cables to use--a guide from start to finish, including if you apply reverb at the processing stage, etc.

[@Daves_PianoAndPipes]

Please take me to your studio Michael, I want a personal tour =D Such a nice & easy to watch tutorial

[@pardonmypiano]

I will!! Thank you so much for watching!!

[@Daves_PianoAndPipes]

@@pardonmypiano ​ @Pardon my Piano Anytime! For me it's past midnight, soo it's good night for me soon. 😄 But I guess it's about afternoon at your place?

[@pardonmypiano]

@@Daves_PianoAndPipes yes! It is 6 PM!!! I might be going to bed earlier today, this video took so much energy out of me!

[@Daves_PianoAndPipes]

@@pardonmypiano Sounds great! Sleep well!

[@vesnakostic8515]

Please help. I am recording a piano piece dynamically very challenging. It is a slow tempo, romantic mood with very frequent change in dynamics. Every note matters. What position of the mics to achieve an ambience?

[@user-ur2nx1hi8w]

Great tips, please share your setup on the preamp

[@panch02ne]

Can you close the lid for live band play? We're getting a lot of bleed in from other instruments.

[@Musiquealbum]

Hi there! I recently purchased the Zoom H5 recorder and was wondering if anyone has experience on how to position it to record from a grand piano? Much appreciated 🙏☺️

[@PianoAngelicus]

Great video Michael! I joined the prem a bit late, then David joined. Kept hoping you’d return to the chat but maybe you went to sleep?!! Excellent tips and loved the peace out at the end! I think this will be a very popular video…..well done!

[@pardonmypiano]

Thank you so much, Louise!! It took me 24 hours to make this video, I did fall asleep during the premiere haha!!

[@mikekeenan8706]

I noticed that you and David were discussing Michael's accent. He is a Romanian, studied piano in Chicago and New York, and now lives in Illinois. Sorry to butt in, I thought you might want to know.

[@PianoAngelicus]

@@pardonmypiano a labour of love! It was a very worthwhile 24 hours!

[@PianoAngelicus]

@@mikekeenan8706 ahhh that explains his lovely accent.

[@pardonmypiano]

@@PianoAngelicus ❤️❤️❤️

[@emerywang]

Hi Michael. After hearing your recordings, I got the Earthworks PM40 mic. I have it hooked up to my Focusrite Scarlett 1818 interface, and it's quite an improvement over my old mics. The Focusrite supplies phantom power and has a built in DAC. Have you compared an interface like that with your individual component setup? Do you find the sound to be noticeably better using individual components rather than an all-in-one interface? If so, what are the main differences in sound you have noticed? Thank you for a great channel btw. I'm so envious of your playing, I'd be happy if I got to be 1/10th as good as you one day.

[@pardonmypiano]

Hi Emery! Thank you so much for connecting here! I find the sound to be a lot better with my individual components rather than a all-in-one interface. But this really varies depending on the devices you are using. What made a big difference in my case was having a dedicated preamp with phantom power. I have once connected a Universal Audio interface (Apollo twin) and I did not get the sound I expected even though the interface was a thousand dollars. I would be happy to listen to some of your sound samples! You can send them to me on my email address. Can't put it here but you'll find it in the About section of my channel or in video descriptions. :)

[@emerywang]

@@pardonmypiano Thanks Michael. I'll post a video of Clair de Lune onto KZbin later so you can take a listen. I've been comparing my test recordings with your recording of the piece to see if I can get mine to sound as clean. Thanks for responding!

[@thenameisabhishek]

👌👌👌

[@reubenstrings6044]

What studio monitors and headphones would you recommend for digital pianos?

[@pardonmypiano]

I am using the Roland KC 200 - 12 inch speakers, and Bose headphones :)

[@matiaspalou9968]

Tip #21 have your piano perfectly tuned

[@ctld5266]

piano recording: dont be afraid of to try 2 sm57 above hammer. for pop, put 2 condenser above hammer. For compression, VCA comp (SSL bus comp) work best 10ms attack, 2/1 ratio, looking for 5-7db at peaks, 100ms release. piano equing. Piano is very strong in 700Hz to 1khz. dont be afraid to cut little there. if too boomy, cut with low shelf @100-150hz, like 3db or so. dont push 10kz, you just get hiss. Try wide Q bell curve @4K or 5K. for pop, more 3K is even better. If you dont have a good sounding room (high ceiling and not echoey), forget about room mic. Put some plate or hall reverb (Valhalla are great) if you like reverb on piano. Reaper is the best daw software. no hassle. load very fast, one type of track on which you can record whatever you want (mono, stereo, multitrack (4 tracks for ex), midi). Always Save as firts, and put an auto save.

[@matthewclarke5008]

Your digital piano recording is still missing a true connection with the piano, but it's still very good for a normal person who doesn't care about having an intimate kinaesthetic connection to the sound.

[@aurelianepuras]

The gear for your recordings, are very expensive. Can you specify a gear more affordable? I have a Kawai GX 2

[@pardonmypiano]

the GX 2 is great! There's actually a version of the Warm Audio preamp with one stereo channel so that would be half the price! :) You can also check the Samson C02, they are only about $150 dollars but are pretty good for their price! I used them before :)

[@aurelianepuras]

@@pardonmypiano Hey! I will purchase sun, the: Rode NT5 MPB. The gear i use for recordings it's a Clarett Pre4Usb and 3 mics, two at2020 and a at2035 from Audio Tehnica

[@pardonmypiano]

@@aurelianepuras audio Technica are amazing!! I want to try those too in my studio😁 salutări din Chicago!

[@aurelianepuras]

@@pardonmypiano salutări din România 💙💛❤️

[@pardonmypiano]

@@aurelianepuras ❤️

[@lynngrissett899]

The noise floor on that WA preamp....yikes

[@pardonmypiano]

Yep haha!!! ☺️

[@marcinkowalczyk8717]

from 9 Hz not kHz

[@marcofratnik4533]

So you put the mics inside the piano, use eq and compression and have no hall. Is this a joke ? (besides your sponsors)

[@kuba13s]

No, no, no, you don't need any compresor, you need to set level correctly and recording full range of dynamics

[@MrTsetso]

5:02 Bullshit! The listener is placed not where the player sits!

[@richk3797]

Once you are compressing the sound you are destroying the naturalness of the recording. If it distorts it is because the levels have not been set correctly. Digital recordings have a huge dynamic range over 90 db possible. Compression is distortion of the music. The best recordings are natural, not compressed.

[@robertvasi]

Everything you do, could be achieved in Ableton Life for a fraction of the cost.

[@pardonmypiano]

Please tell me more!!!😀 also, thank you so much for subscribing!!

[@robertvasi]

@@pardonmypiano So my approach would be Rode NT1 x2 (cheap), mackie (cheap) usb mixer with 4 or more preams which would be your sound card as well! They are quite cheap actually, Ableton Live and laptop or PC. Also you would need studio monitors like Yamaha HS 5 or better (bigger). So getting to recording piano, the placement is crutial. I personaly like to mike around 6" from the strings.I would never record digital piano, but that's just me, because acoustic has way more color. Getting back to software , Ableton is very intuitive and you can make various presets and save them , this way you can get exactly what you want each time you record. As far as Eq, Compression and such, Ableton has so much built in it's crazy. This is inexpensive setup, but with creativity you can squaze a lot of quality.