Recording djembe

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lukakis
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Recording djembe

Post by lukakis » Wed Apr 14, 2004 1:37 pm

I am recording a band in about a week in which the primary percussion is a djembe. The guy who plays it is very concerned about getting the richest, truest possible sound. I've never recorded djembe before- does anybody have any micing suggestions? These are the mics I have at my disposal:

a few SM57's and 58's

Studio Projects B1

Teledyne small diaphragm electret-condenser

Rode NT1

CAD can't remember the model- it's a small-diaphragm condenser in a LDC's
body, basically- side-adress, with three polar patterns and a low-end rolloff

2 EV RE200's

2 AKG C100's

1 EV kick drum mic, can't remember the model on that one either

and i think that's it.

So, given those mics, any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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Re: Recording djembe

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Wed Apr 14, 2004 1:43 pm

hhhmmm, take this with a healthy grain of salt, i've recorded djembe exactly once, and barely remember what i did...but i'd try the ev kick mic down at the bottom, and the cad sdc on the top. not that close, probably 6" away at least. as always, check phase check phase check phase. if you have a good sounding room and tracks to spare, maybe try a room mic too, probably on the floor or close to it.

something like that.

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by chris harris » Wed Apr 14, 2004 1:46 pm

I recorded one recently...

I didn't know what exactly to do either.

I put the guy on a rug, so that I wouldn't have the thing echoing off of the floor.

I put a small diaphragm condenser about two feet up and two feet out from the top of the drum head.

I put a ldc about 4 feet away at about 6 inches from the rug.

I was able to get some nice sounds from working with these 2 tracks.

good luck...

hopefully someone who knows more about what they're doing will chime in with some advice.

chris

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by chris harris » Wed Apr 14, 2004 1:48 pm

weird...

we're both one timers with this instrument...

and, we both gave very similar advice at almost the same time.

maybe we DO know what we're doing?!?!

;)

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Wed Apr 14, 2004 1:52 pm

cue "twilight zone" theme....

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by maz » Wed Apr 14, 2004 2:31 pm

Yup, what they said. I've recorded them a lot and for a "natural" sound, put the drum on a soft surface (carpet or lay a blanket down) and put the kick mic up in the drum if you can, if not, just get it at the opening. I have one player who actually has a kick mic permanently mounted in his djembe. Very cool.

Put a 57 (or use a SD condenser, but that is usually too hi-fi) on the top like it's a snare, mess with position to capture more/less of the hand slaps. Record to 2 tracks and you'll love it. All the rhythm from the 57, all the boom from the kick mic.

I guess you could add a 3rd room mic, but if this is going to be in a mix, that would be overkill.

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by lukakis » Wed Apr 14, 2004 2:41 pm

My humblest and most sincere thanks to all y'all. What a fantastic resource this board is!

I'll update this post with news on how it sounded, if anybody cares, and perhaps even some audio from the session.

Thanks again!
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Re: Recording djembe

Post by Scodiddly » Wed Apr 14, 2004 2:47 pm

What Maz said works... mic the bottom like a kick, and the top like a snare. That's basically where kick & snare came from anyway.

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by chris harris » Wed Apr 14, 2004 3:12 pm

that's awesome!

I looked back at my tracksheets and I DID use a d112 for the bottom.

012 on the top, though...

but, it sounded great.

and, I'll echo the sentiment about what a great resource this board has become. (too bad nobody could help me out with a tsr-8 channel card, though) ;)

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by joel hamilton » Wed Apr 14, 2004 3:44 pm

I have recorded a bunch of Djembe.

Almost always some big honkin LDC right above the head, and a pair of overheads (whatever that means to you).

The proximity to the head(the LDC) will give you some boom, that sounds natural, rather than something shoved up the drum's butt that just gives you a shitload of headroom eating woofiness on its own.

The overheads will give you a nice stereo image of the hand movements, and you can move them around (check phase a lot, as mentioned earlier) to get more or less room.

That is just how I have made this instrument work, and not just sound like an overly muscular conga!

This method also allows for easier mixing in with drums and various other instruments, because you would have control over the "width" and "air" from the overhead pair vs the punch and up front slap of the LDC closer up to the head for a slappy, punchier sound.

Just my two cents.

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by lukakis » Wed Apr 14, 2004 3:58 pm

would you recommend the overheads even if i was recording in the same room as two guitars?
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Re: Recording djembe

Post by joel hamilton » Wed Apr 14, 2004 4:05 pm

Maybe. Are they acoustics? Will they be at least 6 feet away from the drum?

If they are electrics, you would have more problems with gtr getting in the djembe mic than the other way around for sure.

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Apr 14, 2004 4:30 pm

Yeah. These things often need a lot of space to open up, but they have crazy low end.
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Re: Recording djembe

Post by Cellotron » Wed Apr 14, 2004 5:29 pm

I've done a bit of micing djimbe and I also really like to use a dynamic like a Senn MD-421 close to the bottom opening of the drum to get the meat & boom - and a single condenser (I've gotten good results both with small & large diaphragms) a few feet up & out to get the high end slapping stuff. Blend to taste.

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Re: Recording djembe

Post by ubertar » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:21 pm

An alternative to micing up into the bottom is to not use a rug, and have the mic about a foot above and a foot back from the drum pointed down at a 45 degree angle. Gets nice bass. I'd do the same as others have suggested with the top.

A fun alternative to the top mic, but one that wouldn't be good for getting a natural sound, is to put a snare drum on a stand next to the djembe player and mic that with a 57. That, combined with the bottom mic makes for a larger than life snare sound.

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