Mic a Baby Grand

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Brian Murphy

Freshman
Jun 18, 2012
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For those with a lot more experience than I have here's the scenario.

I need to mic a Baby Grand for one tune at an indoor gathering. The Keys will accompany a vocalist. The room is about 40' X 100' with 10' acoustic tile ceilings, vinyl tile floor and will probably have 150-200 people in attendance (most will be seated).

Here are my choices of mics.

Shure SM57
SM58
Beta 58
EV RE10
PL80A

Thanks,
Brian
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

For one tune I'd put a windscreen on that 57 and place it into the middle hole along the curve on the harp. Point it into the hole so that it's pointing at the soundboard, with the connector leaning against the side of the piano. No stand needed. Works with the lid on short or tall stick. Not as well with the lid closed, but no piano sounds good with the lid closed.

I've actually gotten through entire piano/vocal gigs with that setup, and it was surprisingly good.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Milt Hathaway said:
For one tune I'd put a windscreen on that 57 and place it into the middle hole along the curve on the harp. Point it into the hole so that it's pointing at the soundboard, with the connector leaning against the side of the piano. No stand needed. Works with the lid on short or tall stick. Not as well with the lid closed, but no piano sounds good with the lid closed.

I've actually gotten through entire piano/vocal gigs with that setup, and it was surprisingly good.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response Milt.

I do have a short boom stand.

The only windscreen I have is for an AKG414. I'm not bringing that mic to this event. I'm doing this as a favor for a charity event.

I forgot that I also have a Senn 835 and an MD735.

I could stop and pick up a windscreen on the way or do a Rube Goldberg and use a rubber band on the 414 windscreen over the 57. LOL
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Brian Murphy said:
Thanks for the response Milt.

I do have a short boom stand.

The only windscreen I have is for an AKG414. I'm not bringing that mic to this event. I'm doing this as a favor for a charity event.

I forgot that I also have a Senn 835 and an MD735.

I could stop and pick up a windscreen on the way or do a Rube Goldberg and use a rubber band on the 414 windscreen over the 57. LOL
Click to expand...

You won't need the mic stand at all.

The windscreen is just to keep the mic from resting directly on the soundboard. Keeps the rattling noises to a minimum. You won't have to attache the windscreen you have to the mic, gravity will hold them together.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Even a block of foam would work well.

I'll often use a pair of SM-81's sitting on foam blocks on the harp in a piano. This is nice because I can have the lid closed, on short stick, or on the tall stick and it pretty much just works. Of course, better isolation is had by closing the lid.

I think the blocks of foam that I have been using came with some microphones. They have the egg-crate shape on one side and are flat on the other. This is handy because it keeps the mic from rolling around if someone bumps the piano.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

I use a 57 in the hole (listen with your ear to see which hole is best), but I use a stand so the mic can point down into the hole, not across it. With it resting on a block of foam you'll get less headroom and more off-axis coloration of the sound...less LF.

But with a decent accompanist, you shouldn't need much at all.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Dick Rees said:
I use a 57 in the hole (listen with your ear to see which hole is best), but I use a stand so the mic can point down into the hole, not across it. With it resting on a block of foam you'll get less headroom and more off-axis coloration of the sound...less LF.

But with a decent accompanist, you shouldn't need much at all.
Click to expand...

I figured the 57 would be OK but it doesn't hurt to get some input.

Thanks guys
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

this is what i do if i'm not going crazy with placements and want to keep the piano clean.

depending on what style of music, how live the room is, i'll put either two condensers or sm57s on tape bridges directly over the strings. then i'll take a 58 and put it over one of the holes inside the piano on a piece of fabric so it doesn't rattle, if i'm using condensers on the tape bridge than that's the mic i'll be sending to the pianist's monitor.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

I used a mic stand and placed a 57 at the hole which was slightly offset from the middle towards the upper register.
The hall was probably 120-130' deep and there were approx 300 people in the audience. It worked out fine.

Thanks for all of the input.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Brian Murphy said:
I used a mic stand and placed a 57 at the hole which was slightly offset from the middle towards the upper register.
The hall was probably 120-130' deep and there were approx 300 people in the audience. It worked out fine.

Thanks for all of the input.
Click to expand...

Did you listen to the different holes before placing the mic?
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

I have a small amount of experience compared to most here, but I've tried 4 or 5 mic techniques if not more than that on our baby grand at church. The most natural sounding that was useful for live sound was an MD421 pointed at the undersurface of the lid with the lid on stick. The mic was 1/8 inch from touching the lid and was 2/3 of the way from the bass strings to the opening of the lid. It sounded pretty natural to me compared to the more "close mic" techniques I had tried with mics in holes or mics near the strings/hammers. GBF isn't super, but it doesn't sound like you'll need to much in that dept.

Here is a link that has a photo. I'm sure the 57 or a decent PZM would work similarly to my results with the MD421.

http://soundforums.net/junior-varsity/6088-md-421-baby-grand.html

Let us know how it goes.

Loren Jones

Brian Murphy said:
For those with a lot more experience than I have here's the scenario.

I need to mic a Baby Grand for one tune at an indoor gathering. The Keys will accompany a vocalist. The room is about 40' X 100' with 10' acoustic tile ceilings, vinyl tile floor and will probably have 150-200 people in attendance (most will be seated).

Here are my choices of mics.

Shure SM57
SM58
Beta 58
EV RE10
PL80A

Thanks,
Brian
Click to expand...
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Nobody mentioned using a PZM type mic with the lid closed. 2 in stereo are nice. Lay them on a thin piece of foam or felt on the sound board. KEEP THE LID CLOSED. You can get a decent amount of usable volume this way and if you can keep the piano away from other loud things it will help.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Gene Hardage said:
Nobody mentioned using a PZM type mic with the lid closed. 2 in stereo are nice. Lay them on a thin piece of foam or felt on the sound board. KEEP THE LID CLOSED. You can get a decent amount of usable volume this way and if you can keep the piano away from other loud things it will help.
Click to expand...


My favorite quick n dirty piano mic was the PCC160 somewhere inside. Sometimes I did two. I have done everything from a single wireless lav (piano was pushed around during the bit) all the way up to a matched pair of Neumann U87's for serious concerts.
 
Re: Mic a Baby Grand

Tim Weaver said:
My favorite quick n dirty piano mic was the PCC160 somewhere inside. Sometimes I did two. I have done everything from a single wireless lav (piano was pushed around during the bit) all the way up to a matched pair of Neumann U87's for serious concerts.
Click to expand...

While mic'ing close at a hole or at other points can be very handy and/or necessary, it sounded like there was some space here, so why not just a pair of something condenser like out on stands in front...

004.jpg

A pair of KSM32 for Phil Coulter, on a magnificent Yamaha concert grand.

Best regards,

John
 
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