ProAudio Review - September 2008 - (Page 18)

STUDIO | REVIEW tured in 1993. It goes without saying that my piano playing didn’t match Elzbieta’s at all; she’s an awesome concert pianist! I had a much easier time duplicating Bill Albright’s rollicking ragtime piano performances (Sweet Sixteenths, MusicMasters MMD 60149) and the PM40 — although it sits almost right on top of the strings — sounded remarkably like the Schoeps omnis I had placed several feet higher. I had recorded the original session at the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium. Since I still had the Schubertsaal IR instantiated in Peak (and, as the smallest of the three Konzerthaus halls, it’s actually similar in size to Hill), I used just a tidge of the IR to match the “bloom” of my original 30ips Ampex ATR-100 analog recording from 1980 with good results. Neither of my new recordings surpassed the originals, but they certainly sounded very good by themselves and, with the originals as perfectly right underneath the lid of my Mason as if it were custom made to straddle the two sides of an upright. (The Earthworks literature simply states that the bar was designed to fit 88-key pianos.) The tiny mics ended up about two inches back from the hammers, an inch or so from the Mason’s front cover, and I adjusted them laterally to give equal coverage to high and low strings. (See associated picture.) One of the valuable features of an upright piano this tall is that the strings and soundboard actually have some space to develop a decent sound. Not having at my disposal any of those little wedges my piano tuner uses to keep the lid up, I stuck a face towel in there, to keep the lid about one third of the way up. This time I recorded into Pro Tools MPowered 7.4; I wanted to simultaneously capture both the PM40 and my two C60s. I connected the PM40 into the mic preamp section of my Apogee Trak2 and fed its line output to channels 1 and 2 of my new M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R USB interface, again at 96kHz. I routed the standard C60s/Manley preamp combo to channels 3 and 4. The sound from the PM40 was quite recognizable from my experience with the grands. Perhaps due to the small space between the hammers and the front cover of the piano, I got a bit more of the “ping” from each hammer strike than I did with either of the grands, but the sound itself was very similar: mellow, smooth and very well balanced. The C60s outside the piano were considerably brighter and had more of that “piano recorded in a room” sound but, of course, they would also pick up anything going on in the room — singer, drum set, etc. The PM40 needed only 25dB of gain from the Trak2 in this situation, so I can certainly see using it — even inside an upright — for reasons of isolation. And again, the stereo image was simply uncanny; I’ve never heard this quality of imaging from any recording of an upright piano — ever! I sweetened the sound with a little bit the Piano Plate preset from TC Electronic’s VSS3 algorithmic reverb plug-in, which added the final icing to the cake. SUMMARY Should we recording engineers leave our expensive mics home every time we’re asked to record a piano and, instead, opt for the Earthworks PM40? Well, yes and no. Despite all the positive things I’ve written about this miking system, I was not able to make it sound as good as my own recordings using standard techniques. But please consider that I always EARTHWORKS continues on page 56 ® EARTHWORKS Continued From Page 16 closed, or on half-stick. I then played some solo jazz improvisations under these three conditions and was amazed at how closely the sound with the lid lowered to half-stick matched the openness of the full-stick quality. I also learned quickly that the level went up about 5dB with the lid closed; furthermore, the sound was a bit compressed and a little boxy. The compression would actually be an advantage in many pop sound reinforcement scenarios and the boxiness was easily remedied with a little broad lowmid/upper mid-bass cut. I also noticed — and this might be obvious — that the room in which the piano is located is much less important. Also — and this wasn’t so obvious — while really good pianos sound really good, not-so-great pianos seem to record with the PM40 better than they sound in real life. That’s a definite plus in my book! I then used another test methodology to ascertain how recordings made with the PM40 I also noticed — and this might be obvious — that the room in which the piano is located is much less important. Also — and this wasn’t so obvious — while really good pianos sound really good, not-so-great pianos seem to record with the PM40 better than they sound in real life. That’s a definite plus in my book! could compare to “good” piano recordings made with more traditional techniques. I selected two examples from my own commercially available piano recordings — one classically miked and one done with pop miking — and sought to duplicate these with the PM40. I would be the test pianist since one of the artists on these recordings lives in Europe and the other is no longer on this earth. For the classical piece, I tried to play the Tarantelle, Op. 25 of Juliusz Zarebski, (Masques, Dorian 80121) originally performed by Elzbieta Wiedner-Zajac. I had recorded her in the Schubertsaal at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 1993 with a pair of Neumann M269s and a pair of M50s, playing a nine-foot Steinway. I recorded the test myself on a Steinway of similar size, with the PM40, here in Western Massachusetts. As luck would have it, the Audio Ease folks have sampled all three halls at the Konzerthaus, so I was able to instantiate Altiverb 6 into Peak Pro 6 and do a pretty good job of matching the hall sound I cap- models, were definitely “in the same ballpark.” “For something completely different” as they say, I thought to myself, “I wonder how the PM40 would work on my own Mason and Hamlin Model 50 upright piano?” Back in the mid-seventies when I was a lowly assistant Music Theory professor at the University of Michigan (and Bill Albright’s colleague), I spent four months salary on that piano — the 50-inch tall “Rolls-Royce” of upright pianos — since I didn’t have the space (nor the cash) for a baby grand. I’ve treasured that piano since 1976 and it has followed me everywhere I’ve moved. I continue to record it at least weekly and presently use a pseudo-ORTF arrangement with 2 AKG C60 tube mics (with CK1 capsules) a bit above and slightly behind it, pointing down; they are normalled to a pair of Manley MicEQ-500 preamps. This produces a very convincing sound and, when accompanying singers, no one can ever tell that the piano source was an upright unless I point it out. Well, wouldn’t you know; the PM40 fit 18 | ProAudio Review | September 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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ProAudio Review - September 2008 Contents Publisher’s Page: It's A Hard Drive World Broadcast News and New Products Lawo mc256 Digital Production Console Studio News and New Products Earthworks PM40 Piano Mic System Onkyo Professional PR-SC885 HDMI 1.3a Surround Sound Processor Developments and Trends: Instrument Microphones Benchmark Media DAC1 Pre Focal Twin6 Be Studio Reference Monitors Cascade FAT HEAD II Blumlein Package Studio Projects CS5 Microphone M-Audio Pulsar II Small-Diaphragm Condenser Live News and New Products JBL MRX512M Live Monitor QSC: Behind The Scenes Contracting News and New Products Primacoustic Broadway Professional Acoustic Solutions Buyer's Guide: Contracting Amplifiers/Mixers Buyer's Guide: Contracting Speakers Single Slice: pc muñoz "Chatter & Buzz"

ProAudio Review - September 2008

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