piano in house - audio through power?

[declan_mac]

Hi folks,

I've searched for an answer on this, but can't find anything specific so here goes.

We have a garage studio build going on at the moment. We also have a very nice grand piano in the house next to the garage and we'd like to record it if possible. The garage and house are not physically connected and the window next to the garage does not open.

Power cables run from the house to the garage/studio through the ground and I have the following questions:

1. Do we run cables to a wall mounted patchbay next to the piano in the house

2. Is there any way of getting audio over the power network in the same way as you can network computers together in the same house through the network?

3. Am I fighting a losing battle putting audio cables anywhere near power cables in the first place?

4. Is there a wireless solution that might be good and give high enough quality?

Any help very much appreciated.

Thanks

Dec

[mohthom]

Why not run it through either AES or LightPipe - you'd need a static setup next to the piano however. Other options could be MADI, Audio over Ethernet or a remote FireWire interface etc. etc. using an FW repeater or hub. Expensive, but the first link I could find was this. The same cable could be used for MADI, LightPipe or FireWire (though not at the same time). Always run at least (!) one spare cable (preferably four or five) as they can break.

Another option would be a separate recorder (such as the Korg M1000) dedicated to the piano.

MohThoM

[joelpatterson]

Originally Posted by declan_mac

... and the window next to the garage does not open....

Let me get this straight... you're "building" a studio in your garage but you don't have permission to replace the window with a new window that would open? You're searching for bizarre power line and wireless solutions but you want to reliably record your grand piano?

Is there a compelling reason why the studio build can't include knocking a hole in the garage wall and laying some nice quality XLR cable underground? And then... how will the person at the piano know when the techs in the garage are ready for him or her to play?

[NorseHorse]

Just run two long XLR cables into the house to the piano when you need it.

Is that not an option?

[declan_mac]

Hi folks,

Thanks for the feedback. Good idea on the firewire extension - I hadn't thought of that.

It's not that we don't have permission - we could do anything we like, but I suppose we're trying to keep the construction out of the house and if there was an easy 'oh, you just do A, B & C - other people do it all the time' answer, then we'd go with that. As it stands, I'm forced to agree that we can run XLR cables through somehow; even if it's just temporary when we need to record. As for being able to cue in for recording - it'll be blind so it'll be slightly limited in that sense, but should be fine for overdubs or live piano/vocal.

Cheers
Dec

[laboitenoire]

If you own the house (guessing you do from last post), why not just run audio cable in-wall like you would speaker wire or network jacks. Just get a length of multi-channel cable (I think Canare and Mogami make bulk cable that's good for at least four channels and is in-wall rated). Then just get a good junction box, and pick up one of those nice wall panels from Neutrik to bolt everything to. You could run at least two, maybe even four XLR jacks in to the room so that way you could easily mic several things at once if need be.

Also, I think M-Audio makes an optical/coaxial converter that also functions as an optical repeater.

[mohthom]

I'm guessing that in Glasgow (Scotland = cold!) they don't have plasterboard wall construction (more likely stone, IIRC) and can't just chase a channel in the wall for cable that easily. . .

MohThoM

[John Willett]

Get a cheapo mic. and pre. and a small active loudspeaker to use as a talkback unit.

You will need a way to talk back to the pianist so he/she knows when to start playing.

[declan_mac]

It's a very old house, and no - I don't own it. So we're trying to avoid ripping up the walls. Yes, you're right - lots of stone walls in Glasgow!

Although I think we're going to try and feed the XLR cables through the ground if possible. Either that, or a very long snake/floor box to the back of the house and back in again through another window. Just plain bad luck the window in the way doesn't open. We could change it, but it's an old house as I say and changing things like windows is sometimes easier said than done.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Cheers

Dec