{"id":24462,"date":"2012-03-16T16:24:51","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T23:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9n2.ac0.myftpupload.com\/1313\/?p=3733"},"modified":"2012-03-16T16:24:51","modified_gmt":"2012-03-16T23:24:51","slug":"evil-toy-piano-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24462","title":{"rendered":"Evil toy piano shootout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As posted via <a title=\"recordinghacks.com\" href=\"http:\/\/recordinghacks.com\/2012\/03\/17\/evil-toy-piano-microphone-shootout\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recordinghacks.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I recently scored this wonderful, but horribly pink toy piano. I found this to be a perfect opportunity to experiment with a few mic techniques. That, and I can never turn down the opportunity for over-the-top ridiculousness.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Error fetching Flickr photos: A feed could not be found at `https:\/\/api.flickr.com\/services\/feeds\/photos_public.gne?lang=en-us&format=feed-rss_200&id=28896247@N06&tags=eviltoypiano&per_page=20`. This does not appear to be a valid RSS or Atom feed.<\/p>\n<p>I decided to try out a pair of 414s, a large diaphragm Red, &amp; a self-made piezo contact mic. I setup the 414s in a 90\u00b0 stereo configuration over the hammers, but quickly found some severe phase issues. I then tried a simple left &amp; right spaced configuration that had similar results. I opted to use a M\/S configuration for a more \u201cphase friendly placement,\u201d and the ability to control the width as needed. For the Red I placed it behind the open lid to capture the overall tone of the piano. For fun, I taped a rat-shack sourced piezo element directly to the tone-board.<\/p>\n<h4>The Gear<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>2x AKG C 414 B-ULS via ADL-600<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/recordinghacks.com\/microphones\/Red\/Type-B\">Red Type B<\/a> with R8 Capsule via API-312<\/li>\n<li>DIY Piezo contact mic via API-312<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>The Verdict<\/h4>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The M\/S pair sounds great. Nice stereo image, accurately captures the direct sound. Even picks up the key press noise position. The Red sounds nice as well, more ambient room tone. I really enjoyed the piezo, &amp; love the LoFi character.<\/p>\n<p>For the current track I\u2019m using this with, I\u2019m thinking I will use a mix of the bunch. I\u2019ll most likely make a very wide image from the M\/S pair, then use the Red\/Piezo to pull in the center image.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Audio Clips<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/piezo-Toy-Piano.wav\">piezo.wav<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/piezo-Toy-Piano.wav\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/red-Toy-Piano.wav\">Red.wav<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/red-Toy-Piano.wav\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/m-s-Toy-Piano.wav\">M\/S via 414&#8217;s<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/m-s-Toy-Piano.wav\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>Eric Beam is a musician, composer, and professional audio engineer based in Santa Monica, CA. Find him at <a href=\"..\/..\/\">rhythminmind.net<\/a> or on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/rhythminmind\">@rhythminmind<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><cite>matthew mcglynn<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>When Eric posted these photos to Twitter, I couldn\u2019t resist asking him to write about the session. There\u2019s just something awesome about miking a toy piano with $5000 worth of gear. Well, $5003.95 if you include the piezo.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s great about it is not just that all three tracks sound different, but that each mic captures a wholly different vibe. Each is usable in its way, but each brings something different to the production. Having all these choices will make the mix that much more interesting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As posted via recordinghacks.com I recently scored this wonderful, but horribly pink toy piano. I<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24462\">Read the post<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Evil toy piano shootout<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-noize","category-hardware","excerpt","zoom","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/6970209961_5b7b35f9cb_c.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24481,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24481","url_meta":{"origin":24462,"position":0},"title":"Modified MXL 990 (RK-12 + microphone-parts.com\/Jim Williams PCB redesign)","author":"Eric","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Finished soldering up\/shooting photos of an exciting soon to be released mic mod from microphone-parts.com. This particular mic started as a MXL 990. The capsule got swapped & the PCB\/components had a complete make over. The mic sounds wonderful. It's low-end response is insane. As a quick test before I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Analysis&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Analysis","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7878945304_6acbd78e6b_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7878945304_6acbd78e6b_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7878945304_6acbd78e6b_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7878945304_6acbd78e6b_c.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24499,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24499","url_meta":{"origin":24462,"position":1},"title":"Toy&#8230;","author":"Eric","date":"October 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Add this to my \"WTF did I just do\" list of creations. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q1PcUMBu78k Notable Tools used - Gretsch kit, 13\" Keplinger, Rhodes 73, M-12 Bass, SEM, Prophet 08, Voyager RME, Octatrack, Roland 5080, Toy Piano.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Video&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Video","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=180"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/toy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24476,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24476","url_meta":{"origin":24462,"position":2},"title":"Auralex MudGuard Untreated Room Test","author":"Eric","date":"August 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So Jon Tidey suckered me into a group buy (doesn't take much when recording gear is involved) for a \"Auralex MudGuard\". I've been curious how these perform for some time now. I did a quick dialog test record of myself blabbering some nonsense to get an idea of how the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Analysis&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Analysis","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7698184866_44071c351c_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7698184866_44071c351c_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7698184866_44071c351c_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/7698184866_44071c351c_c.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24654,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24654","url_meta":{"origin":24462,"position":3},"title":"Pianobook Experiment &#8211; (Prophet X + Drums)","author":"Eric","date":"January 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I just found out about the \"Pianobook collective sample project\" and was inspired by the \"The 9000ft Piano\" available for the Prophet X. Downloaded and made this little improv noodle. I tracked the drums last month as a slow tempo experiment 48\/96 bpm. So I took the opportunity to abuse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=375"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pianobook-experiment-prophet-x-d.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pianobook-experiment-prophet-x-d.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pianobook-experiment-prophet-x-d.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pianobook-experiment-prophet-x-d.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pianobook-experiment-prophet-x-d.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24390,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24390","url_meta":{"origin":24462,"position":4},"title":"Red Type B \/ R8 vs AKG C 414 B-ULS","author":"Eric","date":"February 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"After recently acquiring a Red Type B \/ R8 I wanted to compare it's sound to the ole faithful 414. I also wanted to compare the mics on different sources,\u00a0 that gives this drummer an excuse to noodle around on instruments I have no business otherwise touching :) . So\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Analysis&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Analysis","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/DSC_0033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/DSC_0033.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/DSC_0033.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/DSC_0033.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24458,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24458","url_meta":{"origin":24462,"position":5},"title":"Crowed","author":"Eric","date":"January 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Well this creature decided to disrupt my recording this wet morning. It just wouldn't shut-up, & So it became the subject. I had a DIY contact mic & my RED ready to go, I taped the contact mic to the window & it picked up surprisingly well. Left CH =\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Noize&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Noize","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/6749640503_9cef5d91a2_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/6749640503_9cef5d91a2_c.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/6749640503_9cef5d91a2_c.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}