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Schertler Piano Transducers: Good Vibrations
By Ed Enright
Published in Downbeat Magazine, April 2002
Schertler Audio Transducers of
Switzerland has put an end to the nightmare
of miking pianos. Schertler’s DYN-P
piano transducer mounts onto any piano’s
soundboard. It sounds infinitely better
than the piezo pickups typically used in
live situations and approaches the supersensitive
quality of high-end studio mics.
The transducer itself works kind of like
stethoscope, picking up the acoustic
vibrations of the instrument’s body via
direct contact. As a result, you get a very
natural sound with virtually no feedback or
bleeding, no matter where you are in the
studio or on stage. This gives musicians
and engineers a surprising amount of freedom.
You can put the piano as close as
you want to the rhythm section or horn
players and still achieve total signal separation.
You can even keep the lid completely
open if you choose so your fellow
musicians can hear you acoustically on
stage—just make sure the piano isn’t
bleeding into somebody else’s microphone
for a change.
In essence, the DYN-P is a no-brainer.
The only real “work” required is to secure
the pickup properly (using a small amount
of provided putty) and to locate the best
placement on the soundboard. You’ll need
to do a little experimentation, trying various
positions until you locate a hot or
sweet spot that gives you the balance
you’re looking for. The DYN-P works best
when mounted close to the soundboard’s
walls or borders. A grand piano version,
the DYN-GP, uses two pickups to achieve
a stereo effect that’s even richer.
The DYN-P/GP has a flat frequency
response and requires little or no equalization
(the owner’s manual notes that
some gentle parametric tweaking can add
transparency to the sound). The pickup
operates on low impedence, reducing the
potential for hum and interference. And it
plugs directly into any mixer, amp or PA
with balanced XLR inputs.
The DYN-GP sounded great on a
friend’s well-maintained grand, responding
flawlessly to a wide range of dynamics.
But, because it’s so sensitive, it can
reveal the flaws of a piano itself. On my
old console, for example, the sound was
slightly clangy, seemingly the result of
hammer noise and poor string quality.
The DYN-P/GP should be kept clean and
handled with extreme care (a welldesigned
carrying case helps protect it).
After all, once you try it, you’ll come to rely
on it like your best friend.
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