Hi,

In message , Keith G
writes

You're obviously a bit of an expert in this field.

Funniest thing I've heard in weeks! ;-)


I'm looking for a mic to record piano playing straight to my computer hard
disk via Sound Forge. I'm thinking of a single mic (mono recording) on a
stand and playing about with angles and distances 'til I get a bit of a
result.

If you can find one, a Crown PZM mic might fit the bill. Tandy sold them
once upon a time and they crop up on ebay often. You can basically tape
it to the inside of the piano lid. It looks like a small square plate
with a lead hanging out of it, and they have a directional pattern that
means you don't get 500 decibels of middle C with no top or bottom end.
If you can be bothered, rip out the 1.5volt battery and replace it with
12volts worth of battery power and it would give surprisingly good
results.

Failing that (it's a long shot finding one) you have some other options,
and results will probably be effort related (as always).

If you're brave, have a look at this
http://www.paia.com/msmic.htm

It will give you two nominally line level outputs, so it's stereo, and
uses three cheapo electret elements with some clever electronics to
matrix three signals into stereo. Good value, I'm told, but bloody ugly.
I *know* you're brave enough to build it - I've seen your amp!

If you can get near the soundboard from underneath, you could cobble up
something far more tasteful using a couple of omnidirectional miniature
capsules poked into a couple of holes - nobody would know they were
there, but you would end up with all the low notes in one channel, and
the high notes in the other... maybe a bit brutal in terms of stereo
imaging, but cheap. The capsules are a couple of quid each, so it
wouldn't hurt to try it. They are less than 1/2 inch across, so you can
hide them in the piano easily. I'll dig out some links to places that
sell the elements for you.

If you want to go 'traditional' you could try an omnidirectional or wide
cardiod condenser mic that can use a battery (a lot of them need phantom
power). I don't know any off the top of my head, but I can find some
references for you. DON'T go buying an AKG C1000, even if it looks
cheap.

The biggest problem is probably going to be the mic input on the sound
card. They usually aren't up to much. The Mid-side kit I mentioned gets
around this as it outputs much higher levels (also handy if you're using
a long cable run).

I'll add to this when I can find some more info.

--
Regards,
Glenn Booth