djembe recording HELP

S

sparkmonkey

New member
I'm attempting to record a handmade djembe with a MXL V93 and an SM57.....
HOW?
What type of room should I aim for?
Where do I stick what microphone?

Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Tyler
 
Here's some tips you may find useful:

When recording a hand drum with an open bottom (like a conga or djembe) try a room with either a hard floor, or if you are in a room with carpeting, put a piece of plywood down under the drum. The idea is to allow the sound coming out of the bottom to reflect back up into the room and the mics.

Try these possible mic positions and see which works best for you:

1) SM57 about 6 inches from skin, with the V93 about 4 feet away, aimed at top head.

2) SM57 about 6 inches from skin, with V93 about a foot from bottom of drum, aimed at bottom hole.

3) V93 about 3 feet away aimed at top head, with SM57 about 6" from bottom hole.

Record a little of each position and see what works best in your room with this particular music. As far as exact placement of V93 when used as a "distant" mic, be sure to try old standard trick of either walking around room listening with one ear until you find the spot where the drum sounds best (and put mic there) or else put on headphones and carry the mic around until you hear the best sound.

(By the way, you may also find that just one mic does the job. Certainly nothing wrong with that, either!) Let us know what worked for you.
 
Good advice from littledog.

But, be aware of phase issues between the two mics. I get better results from a single dynamic. Since there is a LOT of low frequency information coming out of the bottom of a djembe the temptation is to mic it seperately. If you resist that temptation and use a single MD421 or MD441 about a foot away from drum, above the head but pointing towards the center of the drum body, you will get a better picture of the entire drum. You should get plenty of low end, and good control of the transients coming off the head.

I promise, if you try to capture all of the low end coming out of the bottom of a djembe, you'll end up cutting most of it during the mixing stage anyway. Unless it is the only instrument in the mix. This is one of those situations where you don't want too much reality in your recording.:)

Tom Cram
dbx Senior Technical Support
(801) 568-7530
tcram@dbxpro.com

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
-Thomas Jefferson-
 
Thank you for all of your help!!

Last night we put the v93 right at the bottom of the drum and got a reasonable sound after testing awhile. We also tried an sm58 up the hole of the drum. I liked it's sound a lot better, but it lacked catching a lot of the highs in the rim of the drum. In about a week I will be getting back a peavey 520i that I normally use for a kick drum. Should I wait to get this back or will I be better off with what I have now?


Thanks again,

Tyler
 
If the V93 is similar to the MXL 2003, I'd use just that, positioned about 18 to 24 inches above the drum head and right at the front edge of the drum's rim, angled towards the center of the drum head slightly. Move up or down to change the mic's bass proximity effect to taste.
 
Thanks Harvey. I'm going back in tonight to give it another crack.
This acoustic album is my first project with our band so I might be asking a lot of newbie questions. Just hang with me until I get my feet wet.

You all are appreciated!

Tyler
 
Harvey Gerst said:
If the V93 is similar to the MXL 2003, I'd use just that, positioned about 18 to 24 inches above the drum head and right at the front edge of the drum's rim, angled towards the center of the drum head slightly. Move up or down to change the mic's bass proximity effect to taste.
Click to expand...

Not that my experience approaches anywhere near the professionalism of Harvey's but I've found the single LD consdenser to work well for me also. Reading his post on positioning was a total deja vu ... only I use a Rode NT2 as my LD(cuz that's all I gots) -- maybe not the ideal LD for this? I dunno, sounded pretty good to me. That position gets the slap and hand-on-skin sound and a good balance of bass, which, yeah, I tend to have to roll off, but just a little bit.

I'll have to try that hardwood-floor element. I usually track the djembe in carpeted bedroom (there's one room that's considerably deader than any other in my house) and when I play I sit and angle the bass barrel out, toward the direction of the mic.

Cheers,

gg
 
In the catagory of "sonic pig", the djembe is a true contender...tons of low end, highs up the wazoo, and a surprising amount of midrange.

And usually a player (this is a generalization that I'm sticking with after dealing with many players of the instrument) who insist on capturing it all...after all, he/she is a djembe player...

Here's some useful info:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...e&btnG=Google+Search&meta=group=rec.audio.pro

But lately I've thrown up my hands and put up a single ribbon mic carefully placed to get a balanced image, and have been very happy. It seems to focus the instrument in the mix and gives one the "essence of djembe"...kinda like running the djembe through a coffee filter.

I use a Beyer M500 if there are other players in the room for rejection, and a BK11 if there is isolation or if the track is an overdub...

LOL!

Bruce
www.bruceharvie.com
 
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