Forte Piano

[dbssound1]

I've done a lot, and any of your standard stereo techniques will work fine. Love the Schoeps MS!

[Larry Elliott]

Originally Posted by dbssound1

I've done a lot, and any of your standard stereo techniques will work fine. Love the Schoeps MS!

Agree.

[fifthcircle]

Don't treat it any differently than any other small ensemble recording. It is a quiet instrument (and I would hope that the flute isn't a modern flute with a Fortepiano- that would be odd) so a clean setup will be to your benefit. Otherwise, have fun.

--Ben

[Yannick]

The usual techniques apply, but there is one caveat:

I have seen (especially the late 18th century models) pianofortes that project actually far more than a modern Steinway.

I have had situations where I had to record from a greater distance, even in churches or chapels.
A Walter eg. does not sound at all from within 2m. The sound has nothing to do with the real thing. Kindof like recording a great Stradivarius. I have never heard a spot mic sound good on an instrument from that caliber.

So, recording a fortepiano live in a noisy hall could be quite a challenge.

[tourtelot]

The date went really well overall. I did in fact go with a Schoeps MS pair, Mk4 and Mk8, into and dematrixed by a SD 788T. I also recorded the mics "as is" on two other tracks, which was good since when I played the 50/50 back in the studio, there was too much (splattery) room which was quickly fixed with an adjustable MS decoder plugin in my DAW. Lots of stereo audience even after I turned down the side channel a bit. The forte piano is pretty mono sourcy; just a little piano on a wide stage that sounded better corrected.

The instrument is an antique (duh!) and the bench was a little squeaky but the musician was very aware and so not a problem. The HVAC in the church was another issue but was brilliantly cured with Izotope RX, my first experience with this for me.

All in all, a nice evening's result.

Thanks to all for your input.

D.