I know this is a "recording" page, but I'd like to talk live micing without recording.

I recently ran into a situation where I had to mic a baby grand on stage. The problem was that they wanted the lid closed. The theater did not have the exotic M40 bar mic, and I hate, absolutely hate micing a piano with PZMs or pressure mics.

To make a long story short, the piano really didn't need to be micd at all since it was only a lead singer and the piano. However, I wanted to have it micd so I could give it some presence mixed with the lead singer (who was micd) out in the house.
Luckly, the front end, music stand part could be taken off and I was able to position to C414s at either end of the harp in cardiod position. It worked well. No hammer noise or string mute issues. It actually sounded really good in the house, allowing me to make a nice mix of the piano against the belting lead singer.

I used C414s because I have used them before on recorded pianos and liked the sound. They were my mics. The theater had 58s, 57s, 609 (sennheisers) a few small shotguns. I didn't like them.

My question, has anyone had any experience with the M40 mic for recording the piano with a closed lid? If so, what do you think of it for quality verses the price?

Thanks.

Good question....I've actually had some success micing the underside of a closed lid C7 in a string concert setting...pair of Josephson C42s that came out so-so...

I'd like to know about those M40s as well...there again, all you insanely rich folks need to just buy the Eathworks piano micing system...problem solved.

LOL! Yeah, I've heard about the Earthworks system. I'm sorry to report that I'm not in the "insanely rich" category of users. My expertise is in studio work. But I seem to be put in a position lately of doing live work. That is a totally different way of thinking as far as sound. I can do it, and apparently well, but it's not my cup of tea. I was just intrigued by the M40. I wouldn't buy it for myself. I'm pretty good at improvising without the expensive gear.

Did you have to do much eq to get the piano to sound natural? My problem with a lid closed situation is having the response sound tubey. The least amount of eq on a source, the better. IMO.

If anyone here has had the opportunity to work with the M40, not the Messier 40 (M40) double star, the microphone, I'd be interested in hearing your analysis of the mic. Thanks.