The best way to record an upright piano with one mic?

Well,
With one mic, your piano will be in mono. If you looking for a plunky sound, open the top of the piano and place the mic in the center of whatever octave(s) your playing in. If you want a smoother sound, mic the back of the piano (the sound board) in the middle. There are obviously many other ways to do this and other factors that will impact your sound (room shape, size), but that should get you started.
Good luck!
-C

Well, when you only have 1 mic the options are almost always the same: try the mic in several different positions and use whichever one sounds "best" to you. You're going to need to do some experiments.

The 'top 3' most popular placements would probably be:

1- move the piano away from the wall and put the mic at the back near the soundboard. Maybe a foot or so off. Play with left/right positioning to balance bass and treble.

2 - up front facing the hammers with the front cover off. A brighter more percussive sound, predictably enough.

3. - 5 or 6 feet away, getting the "piano in the room" sound. Best used if you like the sound of your room.


Normally a stereo pair is the least you'd want to use for a piano, to get the spread of bass strings to treble... Maybe you can borrow or rent another mic and pre? Or, as I say, make some tests. Pick your fave.

For what its' worth, the TLM103 is a bright, and very loud mic (high output). You might want to aim more at the bass end of the piano, and use the 'pad' switch on your preamp to give you more room to play with gain, and more headroom.

good luck.