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[Scott Fahy]

Jeff----Earthworks P40C.  It sounds better with a closed lid but works quite nicely with the lid off too. Yes it is expensive but well worth the money

Scott

[Jeff Ekstrand]

Yeah,

This is probably a one-off. We'll probably put the lid on immediately following the service, and unless it's a raving success, it might happen once or twice a year. A pickup for our piano is extremely low on the priority list. I can maybe justify the purchase of a mic or two, and it would be nice if they're multi-purpose. I doubt I can go in and request $4k for an Earthworks piano mic, although I've been trying to get my hands on one for years, I've had a few projects, this one included, where it would have been a great tool.

I'm doing this because my boss wants to try it and I like my job.

[Skip Gienapp]

I'll throw my two-cents in.  I've traveled with an act for years that featured a grand piano, and I think I've tried everything.

When you travel with a piano act, you can't take the grand piano with you, so you end up with many types of pianos.  They are not all created equal, and any piano player will tell you this.  I became familiar with how to tell if my guy was going to have a good night or a bad night.   Doesn't matter how much furniture polish you put on it, some grand pianos just don't cut it.

My most common solution- 4 channels for the piano.  Hi and Lo C-tape underneath, taped to soundboard, for monitors.  Hi and Lo ambient mics on top, for house only.  It was mainly a jazz trio scenario.

In the last year in our church, we've gone to a Helpinstill piano pickup for our 5' baby.   See pics at my blog.

[Jerrybosun]

Skip,
Please forgive my ignorance but what is "Hi and Lo C-tape underneath".
I get hi,lo and underneath,  but C-tape?  Any pics

[Thomas Harkin]

Jerrybosun wrote on Thu, 06 November 2008 12:55

Skip, Please forgive my ignorance but what is "Hi and Lo C-tape underneath". I get hi,lo and underneath,  but C-tape?  Any pics

http://www.c-ducer.com/

[Skip Gienapp]

What he said...
http://www.c-ducer.com/

[Rob Warren]

Rent an empty shell of a baby grand.
Stick an electronic piano inside.

then have someone make a false set of guts
like out of foam, that you normally would see with the lid off.


sorry, couldn't resist.


I do however think the Plexiglas option is a pretty cool idea.

[Kent Thompson]

Midi contacts underneath the keys.

[Jeff Ekstrand]

Alright, here are my conclusions from yesterday's testing session:

Both PZMs and SDCs (in this case, KSM137s) work very well.

We put two PZMs under the strings (!!!) on the sound board. One right at the junction of the harp and the "Damper Board", where the pegs for the dampers protrude from the pedal mechanism(s). One pointed towards the dampers/hammers about 6 inches back under the low strings.

Getting a PZM under the high strings was a project, but was worth it to add definition. I found I was able to get adequate volume and decent solo tone from the low PZM. Given that this will be the lead instrument for that morning's service, the high will still be necessary to make those notes cut through.

The KSM137s will be great to use at some point as well. They'll take a bit more positioning work, but will serve their purpose for future weekends. I especially like the tone I found with the highs on the KSM137s. Given more time to work with the lows, I'm pretty sure I could get equally great tone and be happier with the SDCs than the PZMs.

We probably got lucky with our immediate placement of the PZMs. Matt didn't speak of any noticeable tonal difference caused by the PZMs being on the soundboard... although none of us are used to the tone with the lid off, so it's all a wash of newness.

[Tim Padrick]

You could contact C-Ducer and Helpinstill (http://www.helpinstill.com/) and see if there's someone in your area from whom you can rent a pickup.

[ProSoundWeb Community]