Recording this beloved, majestic instrument has always been a nightmare for yours truly: muffled, imprecise sound and smooth ambience when miking far away from instrument or dry, not so musical, hyper-detailed and blurred sound from mechanical noises when close-up recording… and all pianos, rooms and musicians have their different personalities 😱
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to experiment with smarter close… aehm: not so close-up miking… the mighty Neumann USM69 in 90* angle broad cardioid about is very natural, full bodied and detailed, very promising sounding and worth further experiencing.
A few weeks ago, I placed sane mike inside same piano, just a few cm from strings in 110* angle narrow cardioid pattern and sound was also nice, reminding me Keith Jarrett’s first ECM “Facing You” sound… not very suitable for classical music, either.
I love so much recording!