How Do You Record Your Acoustic Piano?

Hi all. I'm curious to know how you record your acoustic piano. I know it can be everything from very basic (e.g. straight-up iPhone) to multiple mics connected to special recording software and hardware.

 

What do you use? What mics, software, editing (if any) do you use? And if you have an example of a recording, please feel free to post it so we can all hear what it sounds like. I'll do the same. I'm new to piano and music - just under a year playing - this is my first attempt to learn a sonatina, though still working it.

 

For this video I used an iPhone 15 Pro with a several year old Blue Yeti and a USB-C cable connecting them. I only use the Blue Yeti because I have it, but I'm considering upgrading to a better mic for music recording. For me, I'd like to get the simplest setup that doesn't require too many hoops to jump or technical knowledge to record and have it sound good without post-production sound editing as I'm only recording for myself and learning purposes.

102 replies

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    • Ken_Radford
    • 5 days ago
    • Reported - view

    I record in stereo and listen in mono as I am completely deaf in my left ear. I use the SE Electronics RN17 stereo pair which I have mounted with one mic behind each ear. The mics are connected to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and to my MacBook Pro via USB.

      • Ken_Radford
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I used to run Logic on my MacBook Air but I ran out of storage and had to use an external SSD drive. Not the end of the world but I much prefer to have all the storage I need inside the MacBook.

      • Larry_K
      • 4 days ago
      • Reported - view

       I’m fine with recording to an external SSD. I have a 5TB SSD drive that I use for photography and other music files.

      I see I have 148GB free on the Air. That will be plenty for Logic Pro.

      I have a 500GB recorder samples library that I use with the Air to play with a virtual recorder ensemble. I write up the music using StaffPad on an iPad Pro and export it to Dorico 6 with MusicXML for playback on the Air. It is too much fun!

      The MacBook Pro is great but I had one for work and got tired of carrying it around. At some point, I’ll just go work on my Mac Studio with two 27” monitors, lol. 

      I have the first world problem of too many computers.

      It’s cool you have a Steinway B. I want a grand.

Content aside

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