Do you have some piano enthusiasts around you? Without doubts, as one of the most popular instruments, piano is playing an important role in presenting all kinds of various tracks which also could express a full range of emotions. Especially, if you are a singer or composer or a musician, piano could be an important tool to produce the excellent musical works. By the way, instead of attending a real musical performance offline, if a piano could be recorded and then shared online, people could get access to the performance no matter where they are. In order to obtain the original quality of piano, an excellent microphone is quite necessary which could absorb and record all the sounds while playing the piano. Nowadays, a lot of producers are adopting the way of recording piano to share with others. Today, we would introduce the best microphone for recording piano to you.

Best microphones for recording piano -- our picks

No. 1 MXL 770

The first microphone you could choose is MXL 770. As one of the best microphone to record piano recording, MXL 770 has contained all the attributes to be regarded as the best microphone, including the phantom power, condenser microphone with a 6-micron, 20mm “gold” aperture. MXL 770 is professionally designed by Marshall Electronics which is mainly for DJ’s product market. At the same time, it has the stunning clarity and detail in the highs balanced with warmth on the low end which could definitely provide the good dynamic range. Without any doubts, this microphone is perfect for you to record the digital recording and of course piano recording which could absorb all the sounds without any original quality losses. It is packaged with the 770 microphone, balanced cable, cleaning cloth and the mount with pop-filter. What’s more, MXL 770 is quite outstanding on its price which is great for recording musical instruments.

No. 2 AKG Pro Audio P220

The AKG brand was founded in Austria, the music capital, in 1947. With complete equipment and efficient R&D foundation, it has always been committed to providing the purest and most natural-sound audio products. The AKG Perception series condenser microphones incorporate the essence of its 70-year-old microphone production. The P200 shell is made of cast zinc, with an overall length of 165 mm, a diameter of 54 mm, and a weight of 530 grams. The temperament is very matched and looks very calm. The outer protective net of the microphone diaphragm pick-up head adopts a double-layer structure, which is very textured in terms of visual and hand feeling, giving people a very strong feeling. The protective net with built-in blowout prevention design is more conducive to vocal recording, can more effectively alleviate the impact of airflow generated during singing, and it also provides a double-layer protection for the internally more precise capacitor pickup. Whether it's karaoke, recording, musical instruments, live pickup, this microphone is suitable for almost every occasion you can think of. The overall price-performance ratio is very good. It should be the first microphone in your life.

No. 3 Maono AU-PM422

On the third place, Maono AU-PM422 could be the one you should not also miss. As a convenient USB-connected microphone, Maono AU-PM422 can be able to provide the high quality recording for live show, instruments recording as well as vocals. This microphone is designed with the shock mount, pop filter and the wind filter which could directly allow you to record the recording without any quality losses no matter which environment you are in. Concerning its exterior outlook, Maono AU-PM422 is made of durable metal with the USB connection and plug & play feature and support. Without any drivers at all, Maono AU-PM422 can start recording on your computer regardless of the Windows operating system of Mac OS system. What’s more, this microphone has adopted cardioid directionality which could allow you to improve the isolation of the sound sources your are recording. Since the sound is recorded from range 20 to 20000 Hz, the high resolution would reach 192 kHz/24 bit. What’s more attractive, this microphone gets a low price as well.

No. 4 Sennheiser MKH 8020

As one of the dominant audio and sound brands, Sennheiser is quite welcomed by the public. As well, Sennheiser MKH 8020 can be your microphone to record piano. Sennheiser MKH 8020 is quite slim and excellent in its design which is coated in non-reflective next material. It has a modular design. From the exterior look, Sennheiser MKH 8020 is quite good in the gentle and soft suede touch. It also adopts the special materials which is resistant to scratches and rub marks. Concerning the sound quality, Sennheiser MKH 8020 has the frequency range from 10 Hz to 60,000 Hz which could be confused to some users on its possibility and necessity. But, anyway, this microphone can easily capture the ambiance and acoustics around the piano which can be able to present the dramatic effects.

No. 5 Rode M5

RODE announced the M5 compact small-diaphragm condenser pen microphone, inspired by the company’s flagship small-diaphragm NT5. The M5 has a 1/2-inch cardioid curve electret condenser chamber and can be acoustically paired. M5 uses RODE's special ceramic coating, has a stylish matt black paint finish, and provides a WS5 blowout guard and RM5 fixing frame. M5 has low noise and has a complete frequency response, which makes it very suitable for recording studios and live performances. They believe that the M5 is also suitable for home use, as well as all kinds of acoustic instruments, chorus, or any place you can think of using small-diaphragm condenser microphones. It can be used alone or as a stereo array.

No. 6 Rode NT5

As another technically advanced microphone, Rode NT5 can be your another option. Rode launched the new studio-level condenser microphone NT5 in 2002 NAMM. NT5 is specially designed for the pickup of musical instruments. It is suitable for the pickup of guitar, violin, flute, saxophone, percussion and other instruments. The shape design is convenient for stable placement. They all have full frequency response, low noise and excellent workmanship. NT5 is a pencil-style small-diaphragm mono condenser microphone. They were originally sold as two together, which ensures that the two microphones have exactly the same perfect sound reception. NT5 is commonly used for the cymbals in drum kits. Compared with some large diaphragm microphones, NT5 is better at capturing high-frequency sound quality.

No. 7 Shure SM57

Whether in the microphone storage cabinet of professional sound engineers or amateurs, you can see a microphone, it is the famous Shure SM57, SM57 is probably the most popular dynamic microphone in the world. SM57 is one of the few microphones whose recorded sound always sounds good. If you want to record for guitar amps, snare drums or bass or piano, but don’t know which microphone to use, choose SM57! Although it may not bring you refreshing effects, it is the most secure. If you want to record a relatively loud sound source, then SM57 is definitely your first choice, it can handle the sound pressure level beyond your imagination. Even though SM57 is not your first choice in some special situations, it is undoubtedly one of the most practical microphones in your microphone storage cabinet. You can use it to record guitar amps, drums and vocals and all other sounds, and the sounds recorded with it are very good.

Best software for recording piano on your computer

When you have already purchased your favorite microphone, then you need to prepare is a piece of recording software on your computer. If you are looking for a proper recording program, then I will recommend Leawo Music Recorder to you without any hesitation. Leawo Music Recorder is easy-to-use recording tool that allows you to record sounds and streaming audio in high sound quality. It has smart tools like Task Scheduler and Auto-filter, making you record sound in an easy and quick way. Also, it can allow you to edit the music tags as well.It is definitely affordable and useful software for you. For your future references, please refer to the following steps.

  • music-recorder
  • Leawo Music Recorder

    • Record any sound from computer stream audio and built-in input audio.
    • Record music from 1000+ music sites like YouTube, Facebook, Veoh, VEVO, etc.
    • Schedule music recording via the internal recording task scheduler.
    • Automatically/manually add and complete music tags like artist, album, cover, genre, etc.
    • Save recorded musicfiles into either WAV or MP3 format for wide uses.

Step 1. Download Leawo Music Recorder and install it on your computer.

Step 2. Import the music files to the program. Click the “Audio source” icon on the main interface to set the audio parameters. Then choose “Record Audio Input” to import the piano audio to the program.

Step 3. Click the “Start” icon on the top left corner to start recording process. If you have finished, you only need to simply click the red icon again to end the recording.