Recording: Day 1

So finally I found an artist who I loved to hear play and was reliable, but also experienced enough that he had his own studio and knew all of the equipment well enough. Mike Sole, can play what seems like every instrument well, and we decided to start with an upright piano.


We pulled the piano out from the wall and placed it in a space where there was enough room around it for the sound to develop into something that sounded rich. I used a spaced pair of condensers set to cardioid (AKG C414's) placed about 2 feet away from the back of the piano with all board removed so no sound was dampened or lost in the piano, I wanted to make sure all of the strings were exposed. Then I used another condenser mic placed behind Mike's back at a distance diagonally, but would like to change this to above the piano with the top open in today's session.


We had a really successful session, recording a variety of different genres, including a ragtime piano track that I loved and a complete blues improvisation from Mike that we were both really happy with. This made recording a treat because he was so able to sit down and just record brilliant takes one after another, improving with each try.

Already, in one day, I gained so much practical and hands on experience that has been invaluable. I also gained a confidence in my skills and my judgement when it came to what needed to be done technically to get the best sound possible, with regards to microphone placements, etc. This was the first time I had been solely in charge of a session and as time went on, I became confident in what I believed to be a good recording.