Tambourine Tricks?

W

wawazzat

New member
I have this song I've been working on, kinda mid 60's sounding, and it just begs for a tambourine track. My first efforts have been less than stellar.
Does anyone have any cool tips on tracking a tambourine? I sure would appreciate some expert advice....
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wawazzat?
the widely ignored
 
I like to record the tamborine with a condensor placed at playing height (waist high or so) and set the level so it registered where desired when the tamborine is about a foot away. That's for an open tamborine, like a Rythem-tech. A headed tamborine I usually mic a little closer.

I usually like to keep it down in the mix with a generous amount of reverb so it fills in the drum track.

Remeber to keep your wrist stiff when shaking, otherwise you won't get an even tone.
 
Thanks DALtune, I hadn't tried anything like that yet. Sounds like a good place to start. Unfortunately, I don't have an LD condenser. Should I modify the deal if I use a SM58/57?
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wawazzat?
the widely ignored
 
basically yea. use the 57, its the 58 minus the build in popper stopper. and for future reference, if you play acoustic, sing, and like tambourines, and track live drums... save up for a month or so, shell out $200 for an NT-1.. and you will have the nex few levels up of sound quality.
 
It's a deal. I've been looking at the Rode's. Probably should be next on the list, then good monitors. Thanks a lot.
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wawazzat?


[This message has been edited by wawazzat (edited 06-03-2000).]
 
I used to use a 57 and had good results.

That was when I had a Porta 2 and would put the tamborine on the floor on a towel and tap it with my foot while using another 57 to record acoustic guitar.

The good ol' days...
 
Hey, wawa-

If you don't need the sound of the jangles in between percussive hits, use DALtune's suggestions, but hold the tambourine steady, and just move the hand that you're hitting it with.

It gives you a whole different sound- especially because the jangles ring more in between hits.
 
Thanks guys, I'll try it this weekend.
The foot tappin' thing too!
It sounds like it could be fun...
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wawazzat?
the thread stopper
 
The problem with tambourines is the excessive transients. If you are using a peak meter it's OK but if you have a VU meter you can only peak the signal to around -20db or the peaks will distort your gear and your tape.
 
Apart from what's already been mentioned, I'd say use some light compression to make sure that you don't overload the input of your deck. Tambourines are REALLY dynamic and a little compression, peak limiting or both can help keep things in check.

With a tambourine, you're mostly interested in the high-end part, so I usually roll off as much low end as I can. You'll have to experiment and see how much of the "smack" of hitting the tambourine you want to keep. This smack will be in the mids. If the tambourine is mostly alone and is partly responsible for keeping time (in a section without drums, for example), you may need more of these mids. If, on the other hand, it's part of a thick mix and is just there for high-end "jangle" (like the chorus of a poppy song), you can afford to lose more of the mids .

Tambourines vary greatly in terms of the tone they produce. The D-shaped Rhythm Tech tambourines I've used are really dark and "clanky" sounding, but I have an LP tambourine that I bought that's VERY bright and really gets a great sound. Depends on the sound you're after, but I like a really bright tambourine.

Just a little light gating can help clean up those unwanted jangles between hits if you're only hitting on "2" of the measure, for example. Sometimes in sparse parts like that it's hard to keep your hand still enough and unwanted jangles can show up between hits.

I also highly recommend condensers for tambourine, and I noticed a HUGE improvement in the tambourine sound when I went to a stand-alone mic preamp as opposed to just running into the preamps of my mixer. I was getting a fairly "squashed" sound from the built-in preamps, but the ART Tube Pac preamp I bought gives me a much more "airy" or "open" tambourine sound. I think it's because tambourines have a very sharply peaked sound spike pattern that's VERY dynamic. It's hard for a cheaper mic preamp to capture the nuances in something that dramatic.

Good luck!

Charles Thomas - Who did a LOT of tambourine recording this last Fall.



[This message has been edited by CharlesThomas (edited 07-11-2000).]
 
I want to record some tambourine action tomorrow...and a shaker too. I supopse some of the same techniques can be applied for shaker too? lol I think I was abuot 6yo when this thread was statred.
 
The only issue I see here is that some people really need to take some hand percussion lessons from a pro, so they don't fuck up their hands & wrists.

Yes, the tambourine is an instrument, compleat with many different styles and techniques.
 
Tambourines are REALLY hard to play well.


Wow, compression, limiting and gating.
Perhaps consistency, keeping still and taking your medication.
AND I just learned about going back and checking post edits - fun stuff!
 
Last edited:
drossfile said:
thisi thread is every bit as relevant today as it was NINE years ago.
Click to expand...

This is the very rare thread where something material has changed in nine years--ribbon mics were expensive and hard to find in 2000, pretty much your choices were vintage Shure, Beyer, or the really expensive AEA, Royer et al.

Now that everybody has a cheap ribbon, that's an obvious choice that will be much, much better than a 57. Although a good, flat condenser should work too; many cheap ones that are on the bright side will be painful.

The ol' key test will separate the wheat from the chaff as far as that goes.
 
Tambourine is sometimes difficult to get just how you want. Takes some experimenting.

As Charles Thomas indicated, "extra jangling" between hits can be a prob. Holding the tamb still, or on a stand, and smacking it while it's stationary can help avoid the extra "jangle."

As stated compressors, gates, pads are all helpful.
 
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