Best way to record your own patches?

Here's the deal. I've got this old 1896 upright in my basement. This thing sounds totally evil! I've got an SM57 and an Aardvark USB3. Should I throw some compression on it? What's a good 1 ch. compressor that's good for the money? I'm mostly into just making beats and havn't really gotten good at mixing with vocal mics, so I'm not sure what to use to make the patch recordings sound good off a mic (no hiss, clean sounding)... I think I'm on the right track, just unsure of what to put in between the USB3 and the SM57...

Before you spend some cash, do some experiments with the gear you have.
Try various mic placements. Try blankets at different locations to deaden the sound. See if you can get a volunteer to play while you engineer and record. Of course a compressor would be perfect, but try your hand as is for a minute.

Also, do a search for piano recording articles. There's gotta be a million of them around.

Peace.

also make sure its "tuned" properly...i know it might sound whicked, but that doesnt mean its tuned....try a digital tuner to check. also make sure the notes you pluck, are tuned after recording, with what you intended.....so you can tell if your getting a good representation from the mic tuning wise, or if you are plucking poorlly.

id say go for the most natural sounding sample.

It's EADG IIRC.

Cool, I'll give it a try. And yes, the piano is tunned. My grandfather was a piano builder and tuner for over 40 years, he hooked it up!

oops, I thought it was a bass!

me too^^^^ oops

Well, it is a stringed instrument...