EP2978238A1

EP2978238A1 - Microphone stand for piano and accordion

Info

Publication number: EP2978238A1
Application number: EP15177149.0A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Luca Giannerini
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-07-25
Filing date: 2015-07-16
Publication date: 2016-01-27

Abstract

A microphone stand for piano and accordion can pick up the sound produced by the instruments directly from inside the harmonic box and with a minimal capturing of other external noises.

Description

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of microphones for musical instruments and especially pianos and accordions.
In particular, the present invention relates to a special type of microphone stand which is placed on the instrument in positions which avoid external placements that hardly match with a clean sound being picked up.

State of the Art

Currently, to pick up the sound produced by a piano, especially a grand piano, a microphone is placed on a stand at the foot of the piano. Same thing happens to equip an accordion with a microphone.
This mode of recording involves two different types of problems: somebody can hit the stand and displace it changing its position, which would change the quality of the sound being picked up; another problem derives from the fact that the microphone, positioned on the ground, in addition to the piano sound, picks up all the background noise coming from the stage, such as the resonances from the understage, that muddy the picked up sound.

Brief description of figures

Fig.1 shows the stand of the present invention;
Fig. 2 shows a variation of the invention;
Fig. 3 shows a variation for accordion.

Summary of the invention

The present invention relates to a microphone stand (10) which can be applied to grand and upright pianos. The stand (10) is placed directly on the lid of the piano through a clamp (16): the telescopic arm (11) allows the microphone to be positioned both within the harmonic box of the piano and externally, for picking up a broader sound.
The clamp (16) and the telescopic rod (11) are connected together by two pins, namely an pivot pin (13) and a junction pin (15), connected to each other through a suspension spring (14) which eliminates the vibrations.
In this way, any type of external shock on the rod (10) - with a consequent change in position thereof - is prevented and a perfect picking up of the sound can be ensured, as the microphone picks up only the sound produced by the piano without other additions and greatly reduces sound entrance from outside.
In the preferred embodiment, the stand (10) is a telescopic rod (11) and is positioned inside the piano by means of a clamp (16) which is clamped directly to the open lid of the piano: in this way the microphone, that is joined to the rod (11) by means of a special coupling for universal microphone holder (12), can pick up the sound produced directly from the piano, without any danger of being displaced and/or hit.
The stand (10) can be placed in any preferred position across the lid, so that the microphone can pick up the sound from any point of the harmonic box.
The clamp (16) can be manufactured with any material suitable to dampen the sounds to avoid even the slightest vibration, such as rubber or other material functional for the purpose.
According to a second preferred embodiment, the stand (10) consists of a belt (17), preferably an elastic one, with a pass-through ratchet mechanism (19) which is applied to the piano lid and to which a support (18) is anchored, where the pin (15) supporting the stand (10) for the microphones is screwed on.
This embodiment also allows the microphone to be placed inside the harmonic box of the piano and, by making it slide through the support (18), to position it at the point where it is believed that the sound is picked up at the best.
The same inventive idea - especially the one with the belt (17) -, can also be applied to an accordion, for which picking up the sound is known to be very difficult: indeed, currently, the only way to provide an accordion with a microphone is to apply the microphone to a floor stand but, as already mentioned, all the more so in the case of the accordion, this causes the a sound picked up very roughly, because the accordion player, even more than the piano player, walks on foot, moving from the microphone focus, and thus the quality of the sound being picked up changes greatly.
In the case of the accordion the two rods (11) with the universal support screws for microphone holders (12) placed at two ends thereof, is attached to the accordion through the passing belt (17), that holds the support (18) so as to pick up the sound in homogeneous way for both the keyboard and the lower part of the instrument.
Since the microphones are attached directly to the instrument, they harmoniously follow the movement of the body of the accordionist and manage to keep the focus of the microphone always in the same spot, ensuring a smooth and clean picking up of the sound.
Both the two models of stand (10), either the one with the clamp (16) or the one with the belt (17), are adaptable to any type of microphone.

Claims

A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion consisting of a telescopic rod (11), a clamp (16) adapted to be positioned directly inside the instrument harmonic box, two pins, namely a pivot pin (13) and a junction pin (15), connected to each other by an anti-vibration spring (14).
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claim 1, characterized in that it can also consist of a belt (17) equipped with a support (18) adapted to be applied directly to the lid of the instrument.
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the clamp (16) can be made in any form, preferably with a material capable of dampening the vibrations, and can be applied to the lid of the piano and moved easily to capture the sound in the best spot.
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claims 1, 2 and 3, characterized in that the microphone will capture the sound directly from the inside of the harmonic box without being hit from outside and without picking up sounds coming from outside, such as for example, those from the understage.
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claims 1, 2, 3 and 4, characterized in that the microphone stand (10) can also consist of a belt (17) with a pass-through ratchet (19), that is applied to the lid of the piano.
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claims 1, 2, and 5, characterized in that the belt (17) can also be made from an elastic material.
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, characterized in that the microphone stand (10), in the embodiment including the belt (17), can be applied also to an accordion.
A microphone stand (10) for piano and accordion, according to claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, characterized in that the telescopic rod (11) is equipped with universal support screws for microphone holders (12) placed at two ends of the rod (11) in order to capture the sound in homogenous manner from both the keyboard harmonic box and the bass buttonboard harmonic box, and adaptable to any type of microphone.