Swinging Tambourine

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iriebill1
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Swinging Tambourine

Post by iriebill1 » Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:34 am

Any tips for recording an accomplished player that needs her stage moves to get the performance.

Great studio instincts on congas, etc. and, to be fair, the over-the-head to the hip strikes is part of the sound, rhythm, and energy.

Level and timbre are a battle, however.

Bill
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Gregg Juke
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Post by Gregg Juke » Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:52 am

Multiple mikes (like a drumkit approach) outside of the "destructive range?" A shotgun mike from a distance? PZM? Choir mikes? Use the room more than worrying about perfect close-miking? Maybe a microphone pointed at a wall as a secondary source for bounce-back? Follow-up with appropriate compression?

How wild are these wild strikes? Could it be more vigorous than Bekka Bramlett?-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SioGdSPTSzE (really good playing starts at about 1:30)...

GJ
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Post by vvv » Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:56 am

Me, I'll point a dynamic (often omni like a 635, but I also might use like a 541) horizontal from 1-4" away, and then compress the b'jayzuss outta it.

I've never had "over-the-head strikes" to deal with, but I suspect mebbe a second mic like a room mic-type thing could help.

I am, of course, assuming this is a overdub thing.

EDIT: posted near the same time as GJ ...
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iriebill1
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Post by iriebill1 » Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:06 pm

Thanks guys

I'll give those suggestions a try; obviously a work in progress!

TOMB rules!

Bill
"This party has just begun!" - Coach Hooper

"Laissez les bon temps rouler" - Dr. John Creaux

"Anything's possible!" - Dr. Nick Riviera

Irie Lab Sound Studios

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Post by drumsound » Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:15 pm

I've been loving the 635a on percussion lately. Just raise up the mic and off you go.

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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Apr 24, 2015 4:52 am

^^^^ what he said.
Any omni would be great here. I'd place it somewhere in the middle of the action. If she's playing off the hips and over the head I'd put the mic somewhere around neck level. Back it up until you get an even representation of all positions. A little room tone on percussion is never a bad thing.

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losthighway
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Post by losthighway » Fri Apr 24, 2015 5:22 am

I like all of the above. I would add, some people have more luck on tambourine when they mount it to a hi hat stand and hit it with a mallet.

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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Fri Apr 24, 2015 7:50 am

I've recorded some dynamic percussionists in my time.

Usually, I'll use a single LDC tube mic, in OMNI pattern if the musician is along overdubbing, or Wide Cardioid if in a group in the studio, about 3-5 feet away from them, and allow them the motion range to mix themselves into the music, by moving forwards, backwards, sideways, using the space in front of the mic as their stage.

No compression, and no filtering at all, as that can cause issues with their dynamic playing. Compression and EQ I will only use after the fact, to help have the part sit in the mix a little better.

The TRICK, is to knowing what the type TRANSIENTS the percussion you will record, has. Typically, these transients are HUGE as compared with the rest of the sound waveform. Thus, I record them at a LOWER level to begin with, and only process the sound afterwards, so I do not accidentally mess up the transients and the rest of the waveform with the wrong type of processing.

When going to tape, typical levels, say, for a triangle, would be peak at -20dB on the tape meter. Because the meters are too slow, usually that indication of -20dB really means around +5 or so in the real world. Depending on the electronics.

For the DAW this is easier, but still, even LED and electronic signal detectors are NOT instant, and have a rise time which CAN be SLOWER that the transient of certain percussions, especially ones that are metal (tambourine has metal discs).
You are looking at a transient which is extremely fast, a few picoseconds, followed by a very short envelope, usually up to 1mS to 3mS, plus the room sound, which actually plays an important role in allowing the human brain to determine what the percussion instrument IS, or is NOT.

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Post by dennisjames » Sun Apr 26, 2015 11:49 pm

See if you can find any info about Steve Amadee from a band called Subdudes. He used a tambourine as a full drum kit and I seem to recall seeing his live setup having three mics.

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Gregg Juke
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Post by Gregg Juke » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:50 am

Good band!!^^^^

GJ
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Post by dennisjames » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:47 pm

One of my favorite concerts was them at The Caravan of Dreams in Ft. Worth -- such a great show!

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Post by cgarges » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:47 pm

I'd probably go with an overhead-type of approach or something where the motion of the tambourine is less effected by its changing proximity to the mic. (Miking from the side may work on this case, too.) I also pretty much always do two things when I record tambourine: I record at a relatively low level (largely for the reasons Nick described) and I still usually compress tambourine with a super-fast compressor like a Distressor or a GML 8900, especially if I'm not recording to tape, which is like 95% of the time these days. I think those things would likely help. So would a ribbon mic, to some extent, as long as it's one that doesn't have an extremely strong midrange presence.

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Marc Alan Goodman
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Post by Marc Alan Goodman » Fri May 15, 2015 1:03 pm

I do what Chris does, essentially. Give it some distance and the moving around will matter less. I can't stand close mic'd tambourine anyway :)

Usually I tap it with something real quick on the way in (1176 set at full fast maybe) just to control it a bit, but it's not always necessary. Our room sounds good so I use a lot of omni mics when overdubing nowadays, but assuming that there's nobody else playing at the same time directionality shouldn't be an issue.

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