Piano Recording: The Dumbest Popular Wisdom in Modern Record Making

Two channel stereo recording is a difficult topic to discuss with civilians (ie not recording engineers) but that’s okay, because I suspect no one who isn’t a recording engineer will have the patience to read this. In any case, stereo recording basically involves using two microphones (where each microphone is a surrogate for a human ear – one left, one right) to record a single instrument or group of instruments and accurately represent their horizontal position in a given space. Sounds that are left of center come primarily from the left speaker; sounds that are right of center come primarily from the right speaker, and sounds that are centered come from both speakers equally. When done well, the results can often be quite beautiful sounding and quite convincing.

More often than not, in modern record production, this technique is simulated by placing multiple mono sources at various positions in the stereo field. But actual binaural stereo recording is still used in a few situations, such as drum overheads, orchestral or string recordings, and on the piano.

The way the vast majority of recording engineers (including better engineers than me- ones I look up to, admire and respect) use this technique on the piano drives me absolutely crazy. It seems that, since the late sixties or early seventies, popular wisdom has been to record the piano so that the bass strings (low notes) are on the left and the treble strings (high notes) are on the right. Some engineers might record it the opposite way, so that high notes are on the left and low notes are on the right. Either way, in my considered opinion, is completely boneheaded and moronic for a number of reasons.

The first reason this seems dumb to me is that, in order to create this outrageously drastic and contrived sounding effect in the first place, the microphones must be placed so close to the instrument that it sounds completely unnatural. It’s not uncommon for an engineer to place microphones under the lid, six to eighteen inches above the strings. Would it surprise you to hear that, within audio engineering communities, there is absolutely NO debate about whether or not this is too close? This is, by far, considered the “correct” way to record a piano on a pop, rock, jazz, or country record. The microphones are so close to the instrument that they’re literally inside it. I find this outrageous, and I find the fact that this technique is completely non-controversial even more outrageous. When was the last time you listened to a piano with your head inside it? The piano was never meant to be listened to in this way. But never mind that! This is now virtually the ONLY way you can hear one on a record.

The second reason I hate this technique is that hearing low notes on one side of the stereo field and high notes on the other sounds patently absurd to me. It sounds almost humorously bad. And it represents a fundamental (and often willful) misunderstanding about where the actual front of the instrument is. Modern record making proceeds from the assumption that the front of the instrument is where the player sits. Wrong. But I could forgive this assumption if it were off by 180 degrees, and this was actually the back. No. From the front of the instrument, there is no horizontal variation from low notes to high notes. The front of the instrument places the audience so that the player and the pinblock are on the left, and the hitchpins are on the right, like so:

piano

So… looking at or listening to a piano from this position, which is the proper performance position, how is it possible to hear low notes coming from one side and high notes from the other?

It isn’t.

But that hasn’t stopped thousands of recording engineers, on tens of thousands of recordings, over four decades, from recording the piano that way… from the SIDE instead of the front.

How to add insult to injury? Well, this wrong-headed recording technique is so pervasive that even FAKE pianos sound that way now. If you buy an electronic keyboard, digital piano, or sampler, some of the piano sounds are quite good and sound an awful lot like an actual piano, but they’re ALL divided at middle C with low notes on the left and high notes on the right. It’s a painful reminder that, with sampled instruments, you’re speaking, not only with your own voice or the voice of the instrument, but also with the voice of the audio engineer who recorded the samples.

If my career in music and audio engineering amounts to nothing else ever, I would like to at least help end forever the pervasive use of this recording technique.

The classical engineers have this one right. Here is a montage of pop, rock and jazz tracks that were recorded using the popular technique, with low notes on one side and high notes on the other:


Stereo Piano Montage (MP3 File 2min 41sec)

And here is a recording of Maurice Ravel’s Ondine, recorded properly, from the actual front of the instrument, with the player and pinblock on the left, and the hitchpins on the right:


Ondine (MP3 File 53 sec)

This is, for me, not a dogmatic thought process. I don’t just dislike the common technique because it’s theoretically flawed from some sort of academic position. I dislike it because it actually sounds bad to me. It sounds unnatural. It isn’t how you hear a piano when you actually sit in a room where someone is really playing one. And I don’t object entirely because I’m an audio engineer. The first time I ever complained about this was 17 years ago when I was playing a piano that was being recorded by another audio engineer, who I consider one of many of my mentors in this craft.

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Published:
February 23, 2009 / 10:50 am
Category:
audio engineering, music, record production
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