one of my favorite Blumlein recordings is from the Hazelrigg Brothers, called "Songs We Like." they used two AEA R88 ribbon microphones, one on the piano and another shared by acoustic bass and drums. One of the more natural sounding albums I've ever heard.

Beautiful studio !

I used something similar using two U87's for Radio Drama recordings at the CBC in Vancouver, Canada. We called it a double MS configuration and it allowed us to set actors on both side of the microphones so that they could visually see each other as we recorded the scenes. It allowed for very intimate recordings as well as large cast scene recordings with actors approaching and departing the microphone array during the recordings to give added depth to the sound. It was tricky for the live sfx folly artists as they had to do their live with cast effects effects above the head of the actor to be in the correct sonic position. Doors and standing effects were positioned in the room so that the actors would stand in front of them in perspective to create the rooms for the recorded scenes. Sadly the Vancouver Drama Studio was shut down in Summer 2009 (when I retired from the CBC) and all the remaining network Radio Drama (the last studio operating was at CBC Toronto) was deserted by the CBC a few years later. A tragic and short sighted decision by the accountants and bureaucrats who were more interested in news and the promotion of mediocre television than quality (and more economically efficient) Radio Sound Production.

Thank you so much for this vid. Which 414s are you using here? I wouldn't have thought to use them in omni for this configuration - I assume that you are happy with the results, although I suspect that their job is to add to your main Blumlein pair. This is certainly something to try.

Great Explanation and revealing Video to understand music recording

figure 8 microphones where used a lot at Abbey Road when recording Lennon and McCartney where singeing together

Paul you went through the highest effort to achieve no loss, the mic boom way over the strings is going to split the 15khz range in half and cancle it out anywhere the vibration past that boom lol

Having such a small studio why not totally removing the lid of the piano creating early reflections and catching vibrations of the piano body? And have you ever heard that the lid’s support stick and its design hugely influences the sound?

Hi Paul! Great explanation of mic positioning to record acoustic instruments, thank you. But how do you record electric guitar, bass and keyboard? Do you record directly from the line out of the instrument amp, or do you place mics near the amp speaker? And in the case of drums, do you prefer contact or proximity mics? Regards, Fernando from Montevideo, Uruguay.

Why not place a mic under the piano, to catch the sound from the soundboard to blend in?

Is DSD possable with electronic music? Is there a place at Octave Records for electronic music with all digital instruments?

Blumlein instructions: 2:30

🤗😁WE HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION…yes we see the figure 8…all your faux paus are NOT A PROBLEM 🤷‍♂️🤔maybe someday you will try binaural mics and NEW RECORD DAY has been using them and we noticed the difference 👂 THANKS PAUL 🤗💚💚💚

Hi Paul, PS Audio has a reputation for hi end audio equipment for a long time. However getting into music recording is a completely different world. You need to understand really, not only music, performance, artists, but most importantly your consumers that will buy your media(CD, LP and whatever). Not always having a "High End Recording" will do the trick. Otherwise, you may not be able to sustain your recording business. Very good luck to your Octave Recording Business.

Otherwise known as Mid-Side recording. IIRC

This I know will be too much to ask. Can't all the expertise at Octave find their way clear to record with the C-24 ONLY and some natural breathing SPACE to give us all a more 'live' presentation then a multi channel recorded one? (sigh.....) Why so obsessed with picking up piano action artifacts and pedal noise? Talk about 'head in a vise', how about our heads and ears 'in a piano'? Stereo went out the window as soon as you added the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th channel to the scheme! Come on Paul, break from the old recording piano molds won't you?