Matt, the C1000's are not the mics to record a grand. Even a pair of Radio Shack PZM's will give you a better sound when taped to the lid.

Are you recording classic or pop? For pop you might start with a pair of decent SD condensers in ORTF just behind the hammers, some 1' above the strings. And see or better hear what happens.

oh, i thought akg c1000s were small diaphram condensers? what mics would you suggest for this type of recording? this type of recording being pop/alternative. i was also going to use the same condensers for other instruments like guitar, violin, and as overheads.
oh, and thanks for the reply.
matt

Originally posted by Matthew J.:
oh, i thought akg c1000s were small diaphram condensers? what mics would you suggest for this type of recording? this type of recording being pop/alternative. i was also going to use the same condensers for other instruments like guitar, violin, and as overheads.
oh, and thanks for the reply.
matt

You're welcome Matt.

The C1000 isn't a bad mic, but it isn't great either. You can use it on guitar, acoustic and electric with decent results IMHO. It is a bit colored. I have used it on violin together with other mics and the sound of the C1000 was not good. On upright bass it sucks and I tried it on a grand piano with poor results. They're pretty decent mics for recording woodwinds though.

The C3000's are better but very sibilant. If you really want a great piano and violin sound you will need better mics, at least in the C451 or KM(1)84 class if you think about CD condensers.

I like Neumann M149's on piano but that's another $$$$ story.

I've had some very good results on a grand with PZM's too.

For violin you'll be happy with a ribbon mic.

Maybe some other members can come up with some ideas, or you could try a search for piano recording.

Hope this helps, Han

Surprisingly, a great little mic to use on piano is the AKG Pro 35. I use 3 up by the hammers, sounds great. I had a producer that worked at my studio for over a year and he was always unhappy with the sound of the piano until I put these little dudes up. They are very hot however, so be sure to get some pads for them.. Kurt

kurt,
you said you put the three condensers by the hammers, did you use a room mic or anything, or just the three SD condensers? im going to check out some of these mic suggestions and ill probably get back to you guys.
thanks a lot.
matt

Matthew,
In this particular instance, the producer didn't want to use a room mic. I personally don't use room mics much as I feel it smears the sound. The only time I would consider it is if I were in a very well designed room. Micing crappy rooms, doesn't make much sense to me. If the room is well designed I might consider micing it and running that to a separate track, or even better, recording the instrument without a room mic and then playing the track back through a speaker in the live room and micing that. Much more control over phase anomalies that way. Kurt

wow, i thought it was a rule to have a room mic. whenever i read questions about acoustic recording everyone always said to use a room mic. Im pretty relieved that it's not because i think i have my piano in the worse possible place, it's placed into a corner to save room, so when i open the lid, there is a wall right there.
but thanks, and thank you han, thats a lot of info im going to look up.
-matt