Tambourine Tricks?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wawazzat
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LorenzoG said:
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."

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That's what I do.

And I keep the mic like 3 feet away.

Tambos need room and reverb.
 
fold up a thick towel and put it on a chair.

Place the tam on the chair.

Mic it.

Play it with your hands.

Record a second track the same way, and mix both together to taste.

Compress.
 
mshilarious said:
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.
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one could even use a tamborine instead of keys for the key test! :D
 
Great suggestion, Super! Gotta try that next time.

Rimshot, I'd never heard of a tambourine solo in my over 40 years in music! Thanks. (Curious how you learned of Nagy.)

That guy can play! The control we were talking about earlier here, he's got it.
 
LorenzoG said:
Rimshot, I'd never heard of a tambourine solo in my over 40 years in music! Thanks. (Curious how you learned of Nagy.)

That guy can play! The control we were talking about earlier here, he's got it.
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Well, I know him a little bit. I took a few workshops with him over the years and he is very well known in the Middle-Eastern and belly dance music scene. I also play riqq in that style (certainly not as masterfully as Karim does), but okay. In Middle-Eastern music, the percusionist is expected to be well versed in riqq,tabl baladi(tupan), frame drums, sagat(zils) as well as doumbek/darbukah (my primary instrument).
Another worthy riqq master can be found here (another casual friend of mine) Faisal Zedan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBh5Zn-hN1A
 
Thanks again, Rim. That explains it. Zedan is terrific too.

Forgot to mention the other day the nice work the Beatles and the Beach Boys have done with recording tambs in pop.

My favorite is "Kokomo." The tamb sounds HUGE on that record!
 
LorenzoG said:
Forgot to mention the other day the nice work the Beatles and the Beach Boys have done with recording tambs in pop.
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Not to mention Motown and some great playing on the Deep Purple track "Fireball". Actually there are some lovely examples of tambourine playing over the decades across many genres. A highly underrated instrument. And not an easy one to play well, especially for 20 minutes solid ! I once recorded one using a headphone as the mic coz I couldn't be bothered to set everything up and it was a minor part {or so I thought}. It was, um, interesting !!:eek:
 
An old symphony trick is to put the tambourine on a flat surface (on stage a music stand with the top set horizontal works) and maybe use a towel under it and use timp mallets to play it.

You get way more control and in some music you can't play the intricate needed rhythms any other way. Plus you can play softer and with no jingles, real clean.

Years ago I was on the beach and found a coconut with some sand in it. I picked it up and to my surprise it was the best shaker I'd ever heard. I carried it home and have used it, with the same sand in it, on almost every song I've done since.

You can make some pretty neat shakers real easy. Gatorade bottles, soda cans... put some rice in there and sell them to the tourists!
 
grimtraveller said:
Not to mention Motown... Actually there are some lovely examples of tambourine playing over the decades across many genres. A highly underrated instrument. And not an easy one to play well, especially for 20 minutes...
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Yup, I agree.
 
dintymoore said:
An old symphony trick is to put the tambourine on a flat surface (on stage a music stand with the top set horizontal works) and maybe use a towel under it and use timp mallets to play it.

You get way more control and in some music you can't play the intricate needed rhythms any other way. Plus you can play softer and with no jingles, real clean.

Years ago I was on the beach and found a coconut with some sand in it. I picked it up and to my surprise it was the best shaker I'd ever heard. I carried it home and have used it, with the same sand in it, on almost every song I've done since.

You can make some pretty neat shakers real easy. Gatorade bottles, soda cans... put some rice in there and sell them to the tourists!
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Good advice. Thanks for sharing.

What a great memory about that coconut!
 
wawazzat said:
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....
-------------
wawazzat?
The widely ignored
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bub its a tambourine, just shake the danm thing and point anything besides a danm kick drum microphone at it. Also try sending it to the same buss you got your drum reverb on.

Go listen to time is on my side by the rolling stones, brian jones played the tambourine on it and i would swear to holy jesus he didnt have it sittin on no towel or have it with no danm noise gates on it.
 
BIGSHAQDADDY said:
bub its a tambourine, just shake the danm thing and point anything besides a danm kick drum microphone at it. Also try sending it to the same buss you got your drum reverb on.

Go listen to time is on my side by the rolling stones, brian jones played the tambourine on it and i would swear to holy jesus he didnt have it sittin on no towel or have it with no danm noise gates on it.
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^^^^^This, if you don't care how it sounds or if it consistently is in time with the rhythm section.
 
Thanks for posting the Nagi clip - I've never seen that befor....WOW!!!!

I have to buy me a tambourine with a head and try to learn a little of that 2 hand technique!!!!!!! (great - one more instrument to learn)
 
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