DPA microphones were used to record Dick Hyman's Century of Jazz Piano. Recording engineers Gary Baldassari and Gary Faller worked at the piano demo room of the Piano Distributors of Sarasota – during one of the worst thunderstorms of the year – to capture Hyman’s recreation of a century of jazz piano on the Yamaha S8 Disclavier.
Baldassari used 16 DPA mics in total for the recording. Two DPA 3503 high sensitivity stereo kits with UA0777 nose cones pointed up at one meter from the ground formed a total vectored square. Two DPA 3521 compact stereo kits were placed in the centre of the vectored square in a reversed double X/Y configuration designated the penta cube. A DPA 4053 compact omni mic with a UA0777 nose cone was used together with the dual 3521s, and two DPA 4016 wide cardioids with HMA4000 high voltage mic amps were positioned where the piano player’s head would be if this wasn’t a Disclavier recording. A DPA 4040 hybrid, a DPA 3541 large diaphragm stereo kit and a pair of 4090 miniatures were also used.
“The question that comes to mind is why would you use so many microphones to record a piano?” says Baldassari. “The answer is that Gary and I thought it would be a great learning tool for student engineers. What we found out by having such a wide variety and placement of microphones was that as the years of jazz piano progressed from the early 1900s to the end of the 20th century, the acoustic sound and complexity progressed with it. The sophistication of new and various writing styles made a more aggressive posture necessary to pick up all the harmonic nuances that were being created as jazz piano music evolved. Simply put, each decade needed more microphones. The combinations that were needed to please Dick were not predictable. He had been working on this collection for more than a decade and had consulted many people who were alive when many of these tunes were performed by the composers.”
The project was mixed at Audio Images in Bradenton, Florida. “Dick wanted this project to have a super real sound derived in the mixing process,” continues Baldassari. “I know we accomplished this as I’ve played raw selections of this compilation at live stage events, which many people in the audience thought was a real performance.
“We had the ability to do almost anything we wanted to in the mix just from fader and the panning movements of the sixteen microphones. Dick wanted a small amount of the actual mechanism sounds of the Yamaha Disclavier S8 to be heard. This piano is very well made and these sounds are very subtle and in keeping with sounds which might be made while performing.
“The best placement that we discovered was one you cannot use while a person really plays: the ORTF 3516s placed exactly where the piano player’s head would be and pointed into the hammers of the piano. Even if you do this with head mics you still have the absorption and reflections of the human body.”
No equalisation or artificial reverb were used in the mix. “While mixing we combined the mics in preset groups that could fit the sonic signature of the period,” continues Baldassari. “Some of the mics captured a sustain sound similar to reverb that others did not. In the 1920s many of these tunes were first performed on large upright pianos. Dick used many artistic considerations, setting up seven presents that spanned the century. Any of the selected seven presets was tweaked for each song.”
Bryan Shaw at Digital Brothers in Costa Mesa California took the neutral, no EQ, no reverb, no processing project that met with Hymans’ artist approval and used miniscule amounts of early reflections and micro reverberations to hide the clinical sound of the recording room. “Both Gary and I are very appreciative of Bryan’s approach,” says Baldassari. “Once it was finished and released, I let him know that we made this recording under duress and in between huge thunderstorms with lightening and power outages. You cannot hear a single rumble in any of this collection.”
Dick Hyman's Century of Jazz Piano is released on Arbors Records Solo Piano Series Volume 20, comprising 121 solo piano performances on five CDs and one DVD.
About Dick Hyman:
Born in New York City in 1927, Dick Hyman is an American jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer renowned for his versatile jazz piano styles. Working as pianist, organist, arranger, music director and composer over a 50-year career, he has recorded more than 100 albums in his own name and many more with other artists. For more information on Hyman and his incredible body of work and artistic collaborations, visit www.dickhyman.com