Djembe stand

dirtythermos

New member
Who makes a good djembe stand? I want something that will hold the djembe at an angle so it goes between my legs as if it was strapped on. I saw one at GC, but it seemed cheap and wobbly.

Who makes a good one and where can I get it? What should I expect to pay for it?
 
My mate and I made one about a year ago with a circular saw and $15 worth of plywood. It fits his drum perfectly, and is the exact height he prefers it.

-Chris
 
I personally never use a stand to play the djembe. I'm playing for dancers, so I'm always moving around a lot and have become so used to wearing th djembe over the years that I would find it uncomfortable to play with a stand. Having said that, I do use conga stands to keep my djembes safe while backstage(from being knocked over by the running around and I keep a foam pad and blanket over them).

The only djembe stand that I have seen that would seem to suit your needs is one manufactured by LP and I believe you can use it without drilling for a mounting bracket (under $100 I believe).It has all of the characters of a free standing mounted tom stand and appears stable and durable.

There is another harness type that has a rigid fiberglass half cylindrical shell which has a tom mount on it that you could use to hook up to a standing tom stand (I forget who makes it, but I remember that it was only about $20 or so for this harness).

You are right that the other folding tubular with straps types are real flimsy.
 
Thanks for the help guys. If you're just playing with the strap, how do you mic it? Are you clamping a mic to the bottom and just standing in the right place under a SDC? Do you do it differently live?

My situation is like this: I am playing with acoustic guitar and 2 vocalists, just good old american 4/4 and 6/8 rhythms. I have a drummer's tamborine on a cymbal stand next to me that I use like a crash, and some shakers within easy reach.

So I could easily put a SDC over the top to catch the djembe, tamborine, and shakers, but getting a D112 or similar up in the bottom of it is the challenge. I was thinking if I put the djembe in a stand, I would be able to mic it with a boom.

But if all the stands suck, then how can I mic it while it's strapped on?
 
Here is the Djembe stand that I use.

DSCN0364.JPG


When I mic the Djembe, I use two mics. Typically it is an SM57 close to the top and a Beta 52 for the bottom to catch the bass. I picked up the stand at Guitar center for around $70.
 
It's very simple...you sit. Sitting is one of the most traditional ways of playing the djembe. You can either cradle it betweenyour knees and feet, wear a strap or a waist harness. You place a kck mic low from behind to capture the bass resonance and a brighter mic for the skn side.
I perform with a traditional West African ballet company and for live work I never worry about the low end because all of those note get lost in the dunnuns (they djembe bass tones are usually just played for time keeping anyway in an ensemble situation). I use a Sennheiser e604 on the skin side bolted to a strip of steel and slipped into the tuning rope in the same way a I put on the ksink-ksinks. I have it plugged into a wireless pack (that by some lucky chance happens to work on the same frequency as the mic). It may not be optimum recording quality, but it's pretty good for live and allows me to move with the drum.
 
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