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Earthworks PM40 PianoMic System:
Hidden High Definition Capture
Earthworks Audio has garnered high praise
with the development of its high definition
microphone systems. Boldly moving in yet
another direction, the company recently
unveiled its PM40 PianoMic System. Billing it
as the “ultimate piano microphone system
that will change piano miking forever,” the
assembly arrived in a large rectangular box,
in which the sleek silver carrying case gave
me, at first glance, pause to think they
shipped me a trombone to review, not a
microphone.
The PianoMic System is a self-contained
telescoping bar that eliminates the need to
fiddle with any boom or mic stand. It fits to
size across the width of the inside of the
piano and allows effortless positioning of the
two attached high definition microphones.
The design of the system immediately benefits
the jazz and classical piano performer or
recordist, as the engineer does not have to go
to great lengths to record an acoustic piano in
the same room with other instruments. There
were no clunky boom stands sticking out, and
no large blankets or baffles carefully draped
around the open piano hoping to shield the
mic from leaking to other instruments.
Earthworks first developed the mic for
churches, which did not want visible mics,
stands or booms on their pianos. “It offers
more gain before feedback and a better
overall piano sound,” said Larry Blakely,
Earthworks director of marketing. “The
churches also wanted less leakage from
instruments outside the piano.”
The use for the mics quickly expanded
beyond the church market.
“When recording and live sound engineers
first saw the PianoMic, they flipped,” Blakely
said. “In studios, the lid can come all the way
down and get a fantastic piano sound with far
less leakage from outside instruments. For
live performance they get an incredible piano
sound and substantially more gain before
feedback.”
Currently, artists such as Henry Hey, Gino
Vanelli, Joe Jackson and Steely Dan use the
mic in performance.
I set up the Earthworks PianoMic System
inside a 30-year-old Baldwin grand. I placed
the mic heads about 2–3 inches from the
strings and 2–3 inches in front of the
dampers, and powered up the mics from
their included output box. I popped down the
piano lid and felt like a triumphant pit crew
changing tires at Indy.
The mics employ an omni-directional pattern
with a frequency range of 9Hz–40kHz,
which will handle up to 148 dB SPL.
Specifically designed to accurately reflect the
whole spectrum of the sound field of the
piano, the “random-incidence” polarity captures
the multiple piano sound sources from
the strings, soundboard, hammers, as well as
the reflections from the diffuse angles of the
sides and lid of the piano.
If you’ve ever stuck your head inside a
piano to listen to the instrument’s magical
resonance, this is the domain of the Earthworks
PM40. Conventional miking practices
would suggest that the mics being this close
or in a closed piano would cause significant
feedback from the acoustical force of the
instrument, but to the exact opposite, they
accepted the gain spikes handily without having
to overdrive the line level.
A designer microphone system such as
this does not come easy on the budget. The
hardest decision to make about whether or
not to add the PM40 system to your pro
audio arsenal will not hinge on quality or performance.
Make no mistake about it, this is a
one-of-a-kind opportunity to achieve the highest
levels of piano fidelity to capture the
sound of strings, body and wood like no
other microphone can. But the price point at
approximately $3,600 makes this a luxury
purchase. If you have an organization such as
an arts consortium, church or other group
where showcasing piano in a public setting is
an integral part of your operation, then this
expenditure makes sense for the high definition
quality in return on your investment.
Earthworks has once again put its mic
expertise at the forefront of pro audio applications
with the PM40 PianoMic System.
—John LaMantia
»
Ordering info: earthworksaudio.com
Kurzweil PC3X: Ultimate Control
How many sounds can be packed into a
performance controller keyboard And once
the number gets too large, doesn’t the law
of diminishing returns come into play, with
the sound quality suffering in the face of
quantity
Kurzweil answers these question with the
recent release of its 88-key PC3X performance
controller keyboard, which features
more than 850 factory preset sounds. This
includes its Triple Strike Grand Piano, a collection
of vintage keyboard emulations, KB3
Mode and more 250 orchestral and string
section programs; many of them many of use
10–20 layers. When listening to the keyboard
at a demonstration at Winter NAMM 2008, it
was obvious that quality does not suffer, as
the keyboard produced a dynamic range of
realistic sounds.
At the core of the PC3X is Kurzweil’s own
microchip, which has been designed to eliminate
latency—important given that the PC3X
delivers 128-voice polyphony. In addition, the
new Dynamic V.A.S.T. synthesis engine
allows the keyboard to run its 32 layers per
program. Users can also create and store
their own DSP algorithms.
The keyboard itself has fully weighted
hammer-action, with velocity and aftertouch
sensitive keys, featuring a quick release
spring. MSRP: $3,630. —Jason Koransky
»
Ordering info: kurzweilmusicsystems.com
62 DOWNBEAT September 2008