recording congas - (soul/motowny vibe)

[joninc]

i am getting a lot of overtone ring on these congas (TOCA "players" series - rented) for a quick overdub.

admittedly i am no expert congero but i can play the part that works for the song simply and with a little groove

i am just trying to capture the sound with a more meaty tone and less ringy-ness.

i was using 57s fairly close off the edge of each (which i have liked in the past) but for this particular application something is not quite happening..

i am messing with tuning the drums down a little.

do you guys dampen them at all with anything?

is this user error? poor technique?

how would you mic it?

[Peterson Goodwyn]

I always enjoy the sound of hand drums mic'd a litter further away. The transient and tone don't really seem to mesh until a couple feet out.

[pumadrum]

thin heads and tune them shits up. choke em a bit. also try hitting them with different mallets.

[percussion boy]

Yeah, tune 'em down, that should help.

------
Conga sound seems to be mostly about the actual sound in the room (tuning + technique). I've never seen anyone tape up congas or do weird recording tricks, it's the drummer's problem to make a good sound. Part of the challenge of traditional conga playing is developing enough hand technique to make an "unringy" open tone with a high tuning, and a good slap with a low tuning.

Unless you're using slaps, which it sounds like you're probably not, there's really nothing to lose by tuning the drums down. If you tune too low it will be obvious -- the drum basically won't make a tone any more.

Close or distant mic'ing should work -- if you look at old photos of Jon Fausty or Irv Greenbaum sessions with big-name congueros like Patato Valdez and Milton Cardona, they did it either way, e.g. a big Neumann at head level or higher, a 421 close up, etc..

Hope this helps.

[JWL]

The first thing I like to do with congas is to use a SDC a few feet above the drum. Move it a bit closer or further depending on the room.

[The Scum]

A couple of thoughts:

Congas today are much better instruments than were around in the 60's. They're easier to tune and play. I don't know how to change that intrinsic character.

How are you mounting them? For a modern, hifi sound, they're usually up on a stand of some sort, or between a seated player's knees, tilted so they can speak. Placing them flat on the floor will choke them a bit.

For the Motown vibe, I'd start with a single dynamic mic, maybe 18" above/in front of the drums. Swap to an SDC if that's not working.

[cgarges]

I'd use a single ribbon mic for a Mowtown kind of sound. Something dark, like an RCA 77, as opposed to something brighter, like a Beyer M500.

The sound of conga drums have so much to do with technique. If you don't have a lot of experience playing congas, then they might seem hard to control at first. To me, a big, meaty sound comes from the player first and the drums second. There are other factors (tuning, hard surface underneath, mic distance, where you want the drums to sit in the mix, etc.), but there's generally not much trickery involved in recording congas.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Nick Sevilla]

Do Big tube LDC, about 2-3 feet above the congas.

To emulate that "Motown" sound, use a console input, instead of a high end mic preamp.

Also, to get rid of the some the overtone, you need to place the congas directly on the floor, covering the bottom hole.

Then, play the conga, and damp anything in the room itself that is vibrating sympathetically with the songs.

Then, when striking the conga, use the palm of your non- hitting hand, to slightly mute the Conga skin, so it only does more of a "thump" and not a full open skin hit. You put the palm on the edge of the skin, on top of the edge, and roll it in and out until you find where you like the tone and hits.

It will take you a few minutes of practice, but I'm sure you can find where to mute and how much. It is akin to palm muting an electric guitar... you can vary how much to choke the tone, while letting the hit itself, the attack, come through.

Cheers

[cutsnake]

The sound coming out of the bottom of the drum is as important as that coming directly from the skin. Conga players use stands or tilt the drum so that the opening isn't blocked.

Try a mic low down, on the floor even, to capture some of the deeper sounds.

Agree with other posters not to get too close on the overhead mics. A couple of feet above, maybe an M/S pair?