Making a recording

[rohansahai]

Hi! I have to get some of my pieces recorded at a local studio. They've got a good piano but the problem is that the technician does not know much about recording on the piano as most recordings made there are vocal. Can anyone please tell me the position of microphones, number of microphones etc??? Thanks!

[glamfolk]

The microphones and placement are the key to a good recording.  Ribbon and large-diaphragm mics will give a warm sound.  Smaller-diaphragm condenser mics will give a very clear, albeit somewhat smaller tone.   Tube mic preamps can shape the tone and warm it up a lot.  

It helps to have a near-field mic (close) and a room mic (far away) to balance out the overall tone, but be careful when using multiple mics, because phase problems can result.  That's when the peak of a sound wave reaches one mic at the same time the trough of the wave reaches another mic, resulting in an echo-y, hollow, overly quiet tone.

It will really help to do some research on piano microphone mic placement before you go in.  There are several web sites devoted to the subject.  

If the engineer doesn't know much about piano mics and placement, I would highly recommend either a) Using an additional  engineer or producer with lots of experience (this is a really comon practice, so don't worry about stepping on the engineer's toes, and might save you loads of money in the long run), or b)using a studio that does this a lot.  

Good luck!