Richard Meredith Selects DPA

'The Piano', which just wrapped its third season, is an acclaimed UK reality competition that invites undiscovered, amateur pianists to perform emotionally charged music amid the bustling sounds of some of the country’s busiest train stations.

The concept of the show was borne from the practice of commuters sitting down to play the upright pianos commonly found in England’s train depots. Capturing those heartfelt moments with high-quality sound in unpredictable public spaces requires precision, creativity and exceptional gear. With this in mind, Award-winning Sound Supervisor and Founder of Audio Dept UK, Richard Meredith, turned to his trusted toolkit, led by DPA Microphones, for the recordings, as well as Wisycom wireless RF solutions.

"The show's premise is so pure — it's just people sitting down at a public piano and expressing themselves," explained Meredith. "It's a very soft competition format. They play a piece of their choice in the middle of a busy station, right on the concourse, with people coming and going. The commuters become the audience, whether they intend to or not. The technical brief from the production team was to keep things low-key and let the realness shine through. To accomplish that, we needed compact, high-performance equipment that works subtly in the background while delivering outstanding sound. That’s where DPA and Wisycom came in."

With an upright Steinway piano arguably serving as the 'star' of the show, Meredith knew it was critical to capture its sound most naturally. He mounted two DPA 4099 Instrument Microphones directly inside the pianos for a low noise floor, high dynamic range and practical versatility. "We chose the 4099s because they just work. No rehearsal. No fuss. They can handle anything—from delicate ballads to high-energy, percussive playing," he explained. "Unusually, we kept the lid of the piano closed to reduce station noise, even though it made the sound a little constrained. This allowed the pianists to play within that noisy concourse. The 4099 was perfect for isolating the piano’s tone from the outside space. It gave us a beautiful, focused sound separated from the high ambience of the station. It let the music breathe without losing detail."

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