I currently have a client who is now doing some cover songs which will solely be her voice and piano. She is studying voice and the recordings have aided her in improving her vocal style and abilities. She is a young woman (18+) and is recording songs from Beyoncé, etc.
 
I am comfortable mixing her voice but I have never mixed a voice / piano song. A lot of my work is guitar and voice and I often have the guitarist double his guitar which I then pan out slightly left and right with sends for reverb panned out slightly farther and keep the vocals dead center.
 
But how about piano?
 
I listened to Tony Bennett and he had the piano slightly left and his vocals slightly right like a stage setting and, of course, it was perfect. But would this work for a modern Beyoncé song?
 
Any suggestions? Piano left (e.g. 5-10L), vocals right (e.g. 5-10R) with reverb panned lightly out a bit farther?
 
Secondly, but hopefully not detracting from the above, would the new Overloud Vintage Keyboard Effects be a good investment for a project like this? I have EZ Keys (Grand and Upright) and, of course, Tru Pianos Amber. I am using a Roland A-500S midi keyboard controller.
 
Thanks much!

Hey Robby -
 
    I've never recorded live piano either, but one of the techniques I read which sounded neat was:  stereo mic the piano and pan it that way in the mix, then throw your lead vocals up the middle.
 
    On a related note, I was listening to "Someone Like You", (Adele) while driving to work.  I thought to myself that the piano sounded pretty mono and plain.  Maybe it was my car stereo....

"I listened to Tony Bennett and he had the piano slightly left and his vocals slightly right like a stage setting"
 
That can reinforce the idea that Mr. Bennet is usually accompanied by an accompanist.
 
For a singer songwriter mono can be very effective and intimate sounding.
 
It's all a matter of taste; making this decision can be easy or very complicated, and in the end it is just a choice.
 
best regards,
mike

I would certainly try the slight panning of the 2 parts.
 
However, a well played and well sung part will make your job the easiest in the world.   On the other hand, poor performances, or performances that are not in the groove with each other will make it an impossible task.
 
Assuming the piano player and singer know what they're doing..... experiment with a slight panning and use EQ and reverb to taste......and your job should be easy.  I would keep them both close to the center. A good singer will fit her part into what the piano player is doing to interpret the song, and a good piano player will not overplay and fill spaces that should be filled by the singer. THAT.... is the real secret to a piano/guitar, vocal tune.... if there is a secret. It's more in the players than in the mix.

Thanks all for the comments, I've already recorded the keys in mono so I am limited to that for this session of, hopefully, many to come.
 
I have been recording her for a time now and it is a distinct joy to work with extreme and committed talent at any age. As I mentioned this is just one of many steps she is taking to study her voice and find ways to improve; she and I and her Mom (a Worship Leader at my former church) spend hours going over her comps, editing and pre and final mixes to help her discover her voicings and strengths and limitations and that has also allowed me to improve my craft, especially EQ and compression.
 
Once I finish editing her piano parts, we will begin recording vocals so I am excited to see how this will turn out; I am somewhat fraught however as I am used to creating wide mixes and this mono / mono seems like a short spread...but we will see...it is fun working on something entirely new :)

Actually, I found a piano / voice cover of the song we are working on:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MnptKXTYi8
 
The piano is a little wider than vocals (not sure if it is stereo), both up the center...I guess that is a good guide.

I would spread the piano and bring her down the pipe, and make some room for her w/EQ/MB Compression. 

The Band19
I would spread the piano and bring her down the pipe, and make some room for her w/EQ/MB Compression. 

Yup, my sentiments precisely after some hand's on; in fact I was working on the piano this afternoon...6/4 time...that's also a new one for me:)
 
Thanks!

When you are recording any keyboard instrument you should do it in stereo. I don't know why people record keyboard instruments in mono. If there two outputs use them! Reason. Most keyboards provide stereo imaging including acoustic piano which is often spread (subtly) across the stereo width. My new Kurzweil has sampled the piano sounds in stereo ie two mics! Why would you loose that? That is what happens when you just use a mono or single output.
 
That alone would have solved your problem But it is also not that hard either. Pan the voice centre and give it a nice subtle stereo reverb that will help to spread the vocal sound slightly. Piano can be just centre as well. The fact there are only two things present make it much easier to mix. A bigger issue is the balance between the voice and the piano.
 
You may even want to automate the piano levels up slightly if the vocals pause for any length of time. But not in between every word though or sentence just if there are any instrumental piano bits. It will sound silly if the piano stays down at backing level in these sections.

Thanks Jeff for the further info, both points are new to me. We are tracking further keys this week so I have that to go on. I began mixing out the piano yesterday from my initial tracking session and I had not thought about the automation on the piano riffs, that is perfect for this song and I'm excited to bring up the tracks again this afternoon!
 
Thanks again!