Djembe mic for live show

S

sindawg

New member
Just a quick question to those who've mic'd djembe's during live shows.

I've read a lot of posts about how to mic them for recording in a studio but I wanted to know if that is the same way you'd mic it for a live show?

We lost a REALLY GOOD player and took on a... "TRYING-REALLY-HARD" player. Ok she's basically brand new to it and its frustating. We're having her just do basics on it until she learns more but I'm not sure that she's practicing or looking for a teacher.

She also plays lightly. This is a good thing (since she's not that great) but a bad thing also (as I usually have to boost her up during the shows through Gain so we can hear her).

So... for a live show in a bar, I have an Electro-Voice RE20 mic that I've heard is good for djembe & kick drums and I'm going to try out this Saturday. I was planning on putting that at the base of the djembe. I've read one place to place it INSIDE the opening and read somewhere else to place it about a foot away from the opening. What do you think?

Also, for a live show, should I mic the skin as well? If so, what kind of mic would you advise? I've read one place about a clip on mic but I can't remember the type.

Thanks for your help. I hate sounding like a newbie but quite honeslty, I wanna give these people the best sound possible and I know its all 'trial and error' but I would prefer to make as few errors as possible. :)
 
hmmm, Well, I personally would have mic'd it from above with a cardiod or hypercardioid condenser.

Are you just trying to pick up the klow end without the attack of her hads hitting the drum? If so, mic it near the sound hole.

Whenever I've had to mic a percussionist or handdrummer, I've found that a few cardioid condensers almost acting as overheads usually did the job very well.



Tim
 
Djembe is so hard, because it's not about the drum. It's about the player. Djembe is the lead instrument of a West African drum ensemble, and the only player I've really mic'd up is the board's own Rimshot (not around lately). He has hands like shoe soles, and his slap will clip most signal chains badly. When he's on stage, they mic up the drum kit so it can be heard over his unmic'd Djembe.
It is simply the loudest acoustic instrument in the world, when played properly.

It sounds like your player is not in Rimshot's league, so the needs are likely to be different. This, however, is critical. A Djembe is not a conga. To capture it, you must mic both ends. What comes off the skin on a rim slap, and what comes off the throat in a center hit are 2 different things in 2 different places. In the hands of an expert, it sounds like 2 people playing 2 completely different instruments. We had pretty good luck with a padded C414 on the skin and AKG D112 or Shure SM-7B on the throat. That was in the studio, not live, but the principle remains the same. I would put a condenser mic with good SPL handling, padded, on the skin, mic'd as if it was a snare.
The throat mic should be a good dynamic, and which one depends on the size of the Djembe. Treat little ones as a snare. Treat big ones as a kick drum, treat middle sized ones as a rack or floor tom, and use the best dynamic you have for that sized drum. Note that these mics are almost pointed at each other. Reverse the phase on one of them. Good luck-Richie
 
Thank you. That is very helpful.

This last Sunday at their gig, I used the Electro Voice RE20 that I have on the floor under the "mouth" about 6" - 1 foot away. This picked up the bass extremely well.

Again, as she is not the best player and really just sticks to very basic beats, we keep her kind of low. The said thing is she really hasn't expressed an interest in furthering her knowledge. The band manager even paid for lesson which she didn't show up for.

So... we are basically just lightly micing her. I'm thinking we may not even worry about the skin of it for now until (and if) she gets better.
 
For live work I've been going back to dynamics like the 421 and 57, doing more close mic stuff. Many of the percussionists I have worked with in the last year, including some serious pros, insist on dynamics and close mic techniques for hand drums in an ensemble. Too many soundguys ruining their sound with fancy XY mics three feet above their shit getting guitar and snare bleed. :p They also seemed to just prefer the sound of a decent dynamic over the crisper condensers. I have to say I kind of agree on both counts.

Cardioid condensers are cool, but very sensitive. I've had success using Shure Beta98 and AKG 409 clip-ons. The AMT clipon is dreamy, but spendy.
 
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