Topic: advice on mic - ing a piano and string quartet

[spcyrfc]

this friday i will be recording a piano with string quartet/quintet for my school.
i have complete access so can set up in any way.
the venue is a small hall that holds about 150 people. 
i am running Nak cm 300's (only 2 as i await the MX100) into Marantz Pmd670.

since i will have access to the fly system (overhead bars used for lighting), i was thinking about hanging some omni's down with one nearly over the piano, a little on the quartet side and above the middle of the quartet.
in order to do this, would it work to just wrap the cable around the piping and drop down the mics? maybe with a little tape on to hold the cables in place.

i could also run cards, but am more drawn to the omnis for acoustic shows.
the music will be classical and i am not sure how they will be set up - but i imagine some space between the piano and strings with the strings in a semicircle.

all advice is much appreciated.
thanks
luke

[BC]

piano = loud.
strings = not loud.

I'd focus on the strings, and let the piano "fill the gaps".

good advice. You can try closing down the lid of the piano to cut down on the volume if it sounds unbalanced with respect to the loudness of the strings.

A little pre-recording listening from a variety of positions while the musicians are practicing before the event can help a ton in finding the optimally balanced spot. I would probably want to be symmetrically positioned with respect to the string quartet in order to get a realistic soundstage with the 4 players evenly imaged left-to-right (as much as possible)

Good luck!
Ben

[John R]

i know you're using the naks, but these are great mics if you have the ability to hang from above, and affordable  http://www.audio-technica.com/prodpro/profiles/AT853a.html

jr

[shaggy]

Too bad you didn't have that MX-100, you could mic the piano separately in the center channel, use the stereo pair for the strings/stage.

ANDY

[spcyrfc]

x
U
--

x= mic config
U = quartet
-- = piano

with this sort of config.  should i still run omni? or switch to card?

[BC]

I agree with Moke, omnis are the way to go.

Personally I have found ORTF cards to be lacking slightly in the low end when recording classical.

Happy taping,
Ben

[spcyrfc]

well, taped on friday running my nak cm300's Healy config.  sounds great.  to my delight it turned out to be a wind quartet with piano and the set up was nearly exactly as moke described as most desirable.
wound up flying them at about 7 feet up to get the bulk out of the audience and was 15 ft back dead center.  came out with a nice stereo image but the PMD 670 is so sensitive that i had to run levels at about 3.75 but it still came out as what i would call well.

thanks all again for your advice.
Healy Rocks

luke

[caymanreview]

so your just running nak cm300s > pmd670

how do you like that pmd670?

[spcyrfc]

the piano was open, but the loudest part of the ensemble was the baritone becasue the piano played pretty softly

i dig the pmd670, but it is super sensitive - should have bought from Oade to get their mod.
right now i am looking into a preamp, the UA-5 but looking for something a little cheaper for now.
any suggestions?