Recording a Keyboard....question

[Robitaille59]

I'm a long time bassist/guitarist who is learning the art of audio engineering.

 

I will soon be doing a live recording of a jazz quartet.

 

The pianist plays a stage piano through a typical Roland keyboard amplifier.

 

I apologize that I do not know the exact models but my question is probably generic enough for this to not be an issue.

 

I want to plug the instrument cable into a DI box the patch it through to his amp and then run an XLR cable to recording interface.

 

On one of my instructional videos on doing live sound they mention that for keyboard players you should run two different DI boxes and two separate cables to get a stereo signal.

 

So I poked around a bit on musicians friend to look at a couple of keyboard amps to see if they were running in stereo.

 

To my surprise I noticed that the amps were really a small PA system.

 

Now to my question:

 

Is this typical? and should I expect to run two cables to two separate DI boxes?

 

It's important to me because I only have 8 inputs on my audio interface and I only have two DI boxes. One was set aside for the bassist and one for the keyboard player.

 

Can I get by on only one DI for the keyboardist?

[Eric Jx]

Others on this forum know a great deal more than I do on this topic, but I'll take a stab at it.

 

The answer depends on the piano patch the KB player is using. If it's a mono sample, then you won't have any problems with only 1 DI. However many stereo samples have phasing issues when they are summed to mono, and will sound like A$$.

 

[NoLights]

Just go straight out from the keyboard outputs -- don't insert an amp in the signal path, it'll just add noise. And, I agree with Eric Jx -- if the keyboard player has a good mono patch, then just go from the L/MONO output (or whatever the keyboard uses) with one DI and into your board. But if there isn't a mono patch, you can try different stereo patches, but they may sound boxy. You might be able to overcome that with some EQ on your board, but, if not, you might have to go with a stereo recording.

[Gismo Recording]

If the keyboard player uses a single amp for his live setup then chances are good that he's using a mono patch. So a single DI should work find.

[burningbusch]

If you're working with a DAW and can record MIDI you could simultaneously record one track audio and one track MIDI. Later you can come back and re-record the keyboard in stereo. At least you have that option. Plus it's easier to fix any clams in MIDI.

 

Busch.