Good Mics for recording accoutic piano

Most of the sound of the upright is at the back. I use a Rode Classic top of the line LDC condenser there in that position. It is also nice to take the front cover off and mic the front hammers with either a signle SDC or a pair of them at the front. You get a little more percussion effect at the front. Usually there are no phase issues either.
 
Make sure it is nicely tuned. Even a slightly out of tune upright sounds bad to me anyway.
 
When you put the mic at the back if there are other things going on you need to drape over a heavy doona or something and block any outside sound out otherwise it tends to pick that up too. I move the piano out from a wall to form a large 45 degree angle. Then I slide a soft baffle in there against the wall to get rid of the hard surface. Then with the baffle there and the top of the piano you can secure a heavy something over the whole thing to isolate the rear mic a bit more.
 
Good luck.
 
 

For what genre.  Jazz, classical, pop?
 
The techniques will all be different. 
 
For jazz there is usually a stereo pair near the curve, just outside of the piano.  Rode is fine, though ribbons and high quality cardioid condensers are popular.
 
For classical, it is traditional to mic several feet away from the piano with AB omnis, not directly in front, but toward the tail.  The height is determined by following the lid plane to avoid nasty reflections.  DPA, Schoeps, etc are the best microphones for this technique.  (best to try in a big room only)
 
For a harsher, clunkier pop sound, you usually see 2 microphones a few inches above the strings, usually near the hammers.  C414's are popular for this.  Omni pattern is good to avoid too much proximity effect.

best results I've achieved thus far (and please keep in mind this is my piano, my room, and most important, my ears<G>!)... a pair of Earthworks SR77 small capsule cardiod condensor microphones placed at the same height as the top of the piano, about 3 feet from the piano, aimed down 15 -30 degrees and spaced as a coincident pair. The wall behind the piano was about 8 feet from the piano, and I ended up hanging a couple of very heavy moving blankets on stands about a foot from the wall covering about 2/3 - 3/4 of the wall surface. I then added a Royer SF-12 stereo ribbon microphone about 4 feet from the floor and about 2 feet behind the piano player. The ribbon ended up being the primary track, with enough of the Earthworks tracks to add some detail. If I could do that particular recording over again I think I might try cheating the Earthworks microphones closer - but at the time I really expected them to be the main tracks, and I wanted some room in them.

I do not record upright pianos often because, well, because I don't have one<G>. This particular piano happens to sound really nice, as I type this I think I need to make arrangements to record it again.

FWIW, I use the same three (four??) microphones to record my Yamaha baby grand, the ribbon stays behind the player, and the condensors go under the raised lid, spaced towards the edges of the piano, and maybe a foot back from the hammers. The piano lives in our living room, which is not an ideal recording space, and it isn't really placed optimally (but then the wife seems to think the primary use of the living room is living, not recording - go figure). Nonetheless, I have managed to get a couple of piano tracks that I really like,

Right now the poor piano is in desperate need of some attention from a local piano tech, but when I get around to that I'll have to post a track with this microphone setup. I should probably note that this results in a somewhat forward piano track - this ain't Bill Evans or even Liz Story... but I bet if I backed off on the condensors I could get something close to that.

Now if money were no object I would absolutely install the Earthworks PianoMic system in the piano. If you have not had a chance to listen to it you probably ought to - although you will want to lock your credit cards away before you do<G>!
 

I wasn't forgetting anything... the cardiod pair I described is aimed at the sound board - I guess I just assumed everyone would "know" that. My bad.

I've never liked the effect of covering the space behind the piano (and the microphones), but I think that is just personal taste.

The only comment I'd debate is the comment on leakage or spill. If this is a jazz setting, with the entire ensemble playing together, well then I WANT the spill. But again, that is just personal taste.

My argument would be that folks ought to try it, sometimes it's not nearly as scary as it might sound.

One last thing - I almost always have a microphone picking up from the players perspective... that's what the player is hearing. For acoustic guitar I'll place a microphone at ear level just behind the player. For piano I've tried a similar position, but usually find that I want a little more distance - and, no, I have no idea why it works that way for me.

I'll also concede that if one has only one decent microphone one's options are limited. I think I also make the mistake of assuming that everyone has several microphones. My own locker is still pretty humble, but I guess it is not entirely representative?

Sorry, I missed the upright bit.  Yeah the back is a good place.  Some attenuated highs but nice and smooth for jazz. I have also had good results removing the bottom panel and placing two omnis on either side of the legs.  This is assuming pedal noise is not an issue.  

The only problem with ribbons, other than the lack of high frequency response, is they pick up just as much sound from the rear as from the front,  not not the best choice for isolation unless you are in a dead space and everything else is off axis.  The Cascade X15 Lundahl is a great ribbon for the price.  
 
Pianos recordings work best in close quarters with small diaphragm omnis.  I enjoy using a pair of DPA4061's inside the piano, lid closed.  Perfect isolation and still a very open and balanced sound.  Better sounding than the Earthworks solutions IMO.  I have taped them once under an upright piano keyboard and the sound was wonderful, dynamic, sparkly and clear.  They are also brilliant on acoustic guitar, guitar cabinets, upright bass, drums, and any acoustic wind and string instrument.  A real steal for under $1000.  
 
I have a few examples of recordings with these mics here:
http://rumleymusic.com/samples/audio.html
 
They are used as mains on Full Orchestra / A Capella Choir / and String Quartet.
 
The piano solo is Sennheiser MKH8040, good mics, but over twice the price of the DPA's.  

The rear micing this works well. The thing with having an upright against a wall too is that all the sound is sort of being pushed into a wall and won't really have much room to move around. What I do is move the pinao out from the wall so it is at a 45 degree angle to the wall. But I also put a nice soft baffle in against the wall to stop things not bouncing well off the wall. The bottom end can sound nice at the rear too.
 
As I mentioned though if there are things going on you may need to build a sealed area in behind the piano to keep things out.
 
Daniel those recording are very nice, well done. I have never had great success putting mics inside the lid and closing it but then again I have not used the mics that Daniel has suggested either so that could well be a really nice way to go. I mean putting mics in there and closing the lid could be a very viable option especially for spill. I am not sure there is even room for a LDC mic to even fit in there! I have a Rode Classic top of the line mic and might give that a shot if I can squeeze it in!

I've had a session with the piano angled out from the wall, on about a 45 degree angle, with an eggshell mattress covered in a feather doona, behind the mic, to stop wall reflections. Sounds absolutely fantastic. I'm getting a good clear recording with no extraneous noises, and very little spill from vocals recorded at the same time. I can't believe I didn't think of this before, it makes me realise how valuable this forum can be. Particular thanks to Jeff who suggested this technique. I have even taken part in a live radio show on the ABC where that's exactly the technique they used, and I still didn't think of it.
 
I'm currently using the Rode NT1 as this is the only decent LDC I own. I'm sure there is still a ways to go, getting the exact position, but I think this is already going to be the best position for this instrument.
 
I'll still use the M5's in the lid, as I think I can get some good character with these, I've also got some SM58's and a couple of other dynamic mics I can try as front pick ups too. If I can hire or loan some, I'll also try the DPA's, the Sennheisers, the NT55's in Omni mode (or other similar mics) to get that front sound I'm after.
 
Even though I'm a great fan of the NT1, I'll also see if I can find some other mics for the rear as well, see if I can't get an even better sound. I'm basically after something that's clean and has a fairly flat response, but I guess other mics that impart a colour may also be worth a listen.
 
Anyway I really happy with what I've achieved so far and thanks to everyone that's contributed to this post. Keep the ideas coming, I'm always listening for good techniques and hardware for pianos.

The moral of the story: Listen to what you are going to record before you grab at your bag of microphones.
 
:-)

 

(by the way Daniel and please tell me if this is a silly concept when you do tape that mic under the keyboard do you leave the lower panel off or put it back on) I tried both and still liked what I heard. I noticed the sound there is has more mid range and tops. (you can pick up a bit of pedal movement though for obvious reasons) Excellent isloation from drums though under there.

 
I normally leave it off to get as much sound from the piano as possible.  Pedal noise is problematic, especially in solo piano recordings though.  One more reason I'd rather go out on location and fine a really nice grand.  Though once I do my studio remodel a new Yamaha C6X is definitely on my list ;)