Pianist, accompanist, arranger, and conductor Randy Waldman found his solution to an endless search for piano amplification, the Earthworks PM40 PianoMic System.
Miking the piano was an ongoing challenge, explained Walden, “Miking the entire keyboard evenly—without certain notes or areas being louder or softer than other areas—is a huge issue.”
“Similarly, 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% 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 offered the following. “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.”
“Equally noteworthy, I never have 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.”
