Audio Recording Setup

[asuhayda]

Hi All,

I recently posted a question regarding video recording, but I've since learned that there's much more to this than I thought.

I'm doing a demo piece for a teacher's certification that I'm working on and I need to get an audio/video setup.

Audio is obviously much more important.. So, I'm thinking I need to get some sort of a video and mic setup. 

Any suggestions on equipment?  I know very little about this stuff.

Also, it looks like people that do serious piano recordings hang microphones right over the belly of the piano... is there a technique to this?  Positioning?  Single mic? Double mic? more than that?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.  I don't have to go absolutely nuts with this, but the sound quality needs to be good (obviously).

I'm definitely not looking to spend thousands of dollars.

Thank you!

[richard black]

By far the simplest and most all-round satisfactory solution these days is something like the Zoom/Edirol/Tascam solid-state recorders - for example

https://www.roland.com/products/en/R-09HR/

(that one happens to be my personal favourite, of several I've tried, but most of the others are very satisfactory too).

These things have microphones built in and record for several hours to a removable memory card. You can then load the audio to a computer for editing etc. Sound quality is really shockingly good for the size and price of these devices. The one thing that will improve them is proper placement, which for classical piano recording really does _not_ mean inside the piano. Somewhere outside is much nicer-sounding. It's important to keep any microphones clear of flat surfaces, so a basic microphone stand is a worthwhile investment. Because you can so easily record a bit, then stop, plug in headphones and listen in high quality, you can easily experiment with placement.

Just so you know where I'm coming from with this, I should mention that I'm a recording engineer when I'm not playing the piano.

[asuhayda]

Hi!

Thanks! This is great. I didn't know about that recorder.

I need to take video too.. do you recommend taking video and over-dubbing the sound with this recorder (never done this before)? Or should I just get a good camcorder and a really awesome mic w/stand?  If so, any suggestions on that kind of rig?

Thanks,

Adam