MILFORD, NH – Pianist/arranger/conductor Randy Waldman is finding that the Earthworks PM40 PianoMic System lets him spend more time arranging, producing, recording and live performances and less time worrying about how the piano is miked.
Waldman, who won a Grammy Award for co-arranging Barbara's Streisand's "Somewhere," has also performed on and/or arranged numerous recording projects for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, and Michael Jackson. As a pianist, his performances can be found on soundtracks for films including Without A Trace, Titanic, and Ice Age (to name but a few) and he routinely serves as a pianist, conductor, and arranger for live concerts.
Miking a piano isn't always easy, according to Waldman. "Miking the entire keyboard evenly-without certain notes or areas being louder or softer than other areas-is a huge issue," he said. "Sound leakage from outside the piano is another consideration that makes capturing the instrument so difficult. I really hadn't found what I considered to be a workable solution until I discovered the Earthworks PM40.
"What I like most about the PM40 is its ease of installation," Waldman continued. "When I walk into a live concert situation, I would say 99 percent of the time, the piano is already miked. Since piano miking generally takes a fairly long time, most sound crews aren't willing to experiment because they have a million other responsibilities to attend to. With the PM40, however, the mics are so easy to place that, most of the time; the crew is open to the idea. I set the PM40 in place, angle the mics and hand them the plugs. Once the crew hears the system, the sound sells itself."
In terms of its sound quality, Waldman said the PM40 "delivers even, natural sound across the entire range of the instrument, and since I can close the lid, there's considerably less of the usual bleed from other instruments on stage." Another advantage, he noted, was that he never has to "worry about the mics falling into the piano. I also get plenty of positive feedback from the sound crews when they hear the system for the first time. Their comments are almost always the same, ‘You can hear the entire piano keyboard evenly.' The PM40 is a really well-thought-out system for piano miking."
On April 17, Waldman will perform in concert with Natalie Cole, Josh Groban and Barry Manilow at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles and he has every intention of using his PM40 PianoMic system. "I wouldn't want to be without it," he said. "I'm also looking forward to using the new PM40T Touring PianoMic System, as this is designed for portable use. Once you get accustomed to the sound quality and ease of using the Earthworks setup, you really don't want to be without it."
For more information, please visit www.earthworksaudio.com.
