mic'ing an upright piano for a live gig

[zephonic]

I have got a gig tonight and somebody is bringing in an acoustic upright for me to play on. I am a bit apprehensive as my experience with live mic'ing is practically zero.
I reckon they have the usual suspects out there, like 58's or 57's but not condensers.
I am thinking that can not adequately amplify an upright, so I'm thinking of just going with the digital piano they have there.

Alternatively, I have a SE Electronics 3300Z LDC which isn't bad and has switchable polarity (omni, 8, cardoid). Would it make sense to bring it and rely on that solely for amplifying the upright? If yes, what would be the best place to put it?

Or would the digital be a safer bet? Rest of the chain is a Mackie 1402VLZ and JBL EONG2s.

[r4uz]

i've seen an upright with the front lid open mic'ed with 2 sm57's, the mics were pointed downwards to the ground but very near the strings and hammers. they went into a small mackie mixer and that's it. it sounded alright. i think it adds more vibe than a digital piano.

[destandeau]

Originally Posted by zephonic

I have got a gig tonight and somebody is bringing in an acoustic upright for me to play on. I am a bit apprehensive as my experience with live mic'ing is practically zero.
I reckon they have the usual suspects out there, like 58's or 57's but not condensers.
I am thinking that can not adequately amplify an upright, so I'm thinking of just going with the digital piano they have there.

Alternatively, I have a SE Electronics 3300Z LDC which isn't bad and has switchable polarity (omni, 8, cardoid). Would it make sense to bring it and rely on that solely for amplifying the upright? If yes, what would be the best place to put it?

Or would the digital be a safer bet? Rest of the chain is a Mackie 1402VLZ and JBL EONG2s.

Hi ,
you can do a pretty good sound with two 58 .
Just put them very close on the backside of the piano.
Try the distance between the two mics by playing the piano and concentrating on getting all the keys as even as possible.
The sound is normally nice and round and !! you can do a pretty loud monitorsound with this method ...!

[pan]

Try a pzm under the lid. You can close the piano and have less feedback problems and crosstalk in a band context.

edit - sorry you have only 57/58s at the venue...

[zephonic]

Thanks all, will give it a try.

[Quadrophonic73]

I tend to prefer the sound of an upright with the lid closed. It adds a resonance not unlike the resonant head on a drum. A pair of condensers pointed at the closed top about 1/3 of the way from each end (they'd be spaced a couple feet apart to get both ends of the piano) will do the trick.

Since it's live you don't have to go nuts with SM81s or anything. This is a great use for those MXL mics everyone seems to have a couple of.

-Alex

[El Heavio]

Ive used 57's on pianos loads of times. They do the job.

PZM for the win.