I'd appreciate any comments

[Bigus Dickus]

[Updated, now less than 3:00 in length, only 9 positions. I narrowed it down based on my listening and opinions I've received to this point.]

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2316&alid=-1

What I'm looking for is opinions on which segment sounds the best.

You can stream the .mp3 (use the high-fi... they automatically create the low-fi and it's really terrible) or download it first. This is my first attempt at recording. The biggest variable right now is the microphone placements, which is what the .mp3 is all about. It's 8 minutes, I know, kinda lengthy, but I'd appreciate any comments.

There is no eq, no gain adjustments, no compression, reverb, or other affects, no panning or delay. After processing it should sound better, but I wanted to get a good starting point, thus why I'm getting opinions on what placement sounds best. There is some hard clipping in two or there spots... annoying, but try to ignore that. I used the same preamp gain for all mic placements, and apparently the signal was too hot for a couple of them.

I only did one take at each position, so try not to critique my playing too much. :)

Baldwin 6" grand in smallish room with acoustical treatment.
Matched pair of Oktava MC012's from the Soundroom with cardiod heads and no pads.
DBX 386 stereo mic pre and A/D converter.
A/D set at 24 bit 88.1 kHz, no dithering or noise shaping
M-Audio Delta DiO 2496 taking SPDI/F signal through coax
Cubase SX set to 32 bit float

Thanks

[intercede007]

Good stuff.

I think I'd have to say that after position 9, it didn't sound quite as clear to my ear as the ones previous. I'm no musician, so I can't really articulate what I think I'm hearing..sorry about that.

[The Baron]

I think 5, 7, or 8 is the best. After 8, it sounds biased towards the bass instead of the treble, which is definitely where it should be very slightly biased towards, but that might have been just because it's a Baldwin instead of a Steinway.

Man oh man, I hate Baldwins. But I digress.

How far away are you putting the mics exactly? That's question #2...

[Bigus Dickus]

Well, I got this Baldwin brand new at 70% off, so I can't complain too much. I'd prefer a Steinway (or many others for that matter) any day, but it was either this nice 6" grand, or keep the cheesy keyboard I was using. :D

I have a listing of mic positions for each segment number, but I didn't post them, since I didn't feel it was necessary to know where the mic was to give an opinion on the sound. Most segments the mics are anywhere from 6" to 18" from the strings, at different places along the soundboard... sometimes in X/Y stereo placement and sometimes using a wide spacing technique. A few have one above the soundboard, and the other below - all those are in the second half, possibly resulting in the boominess you're hearing. The last couple are not over the soundboard, but at the edge of the open lid, or even out into the room slightly.

I could have adjusted the gain on the channel to compensate, but that seemed to open another can of worms... should I adjust gain on all tracks to make them even? EQ? Man, that was just more complication than I needed at this point.

The only other comments I've received (on another forum) also pointed towards 5 and 8, and I like those as well. Over the next few days, here and elsewhere, hopefully I'll collect enough opinions to get a good feel for how it sounds on a variety of systems (a big goal of recording), since I only have about four at my immediate disposal.

[The Baron]

Yeah... I thought it was inside the piano. I think that if you can get it into a concert hall or something and put the mics a fair distance away (8-15 feet) it will sound WAY better. But then again, I don't know if you can do that with those mics.

Just my experience.

[Bigus Dickus]

That would work great with these mics, but squeezing the concert hall into my apartment is going to take some effort. ;)

[The Baron]

Oh. Apartment. :p Whoops.

[Bigus Dickus]

lol. :D

It's certainly not ideal, but I'm trying to get the best sound possible. Not very easy.

[Bigus Dickus]

Updated, now less than 3:00 in length, only 9 positions. I narrowed it down based on my listening and opinions I've received to this point.