trouble recording tambaurine (sp?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Jahn
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Chris Jahn

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Damn what a stupid word to have to spell for someone who sucks at spelling as it is. But to my question, ive tried tons of mics and tons of processing, tons of mic distances and my tambaourine sound sucks. I have a nice tambaurine, so thats no really this issue.

Ive tried my Tube vocal mic, mono and stereo drum overheads, and plain old sm58's and 57's, it all sounds to thin, and i seem to get only the percussive side (the hand hit) and non of the shake. Any suggestions for this and percussion in general.
 
Could try recording putting an LDC or something in the next room over with the door open. Worked for me ;-). Of course, I'm just lazy and I didn't want to move the mic stand....
 
Ribbons work well on tamborine IMO, and I tend to be at least a few feet away from the mic ... maybe some slight comp could even out the hand hits/shaking
 
I'd add a few feet away and far off axis. The room matters - You aren't going to capture supplemental percussives well in a bad room...
 
I track tamborine/shakers with the mics in the studio while I'm in the control room. I usually just use the drum overhead mics and go.
 
Oh yea - haven't you heard of wireless tambourines?
 
cusebassman said:
Oh yea - haven't you heard of wireless tambourines?
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Ok, cute. :rolleyes: For one, I don't know his room(s), just maybe that's his way of getting some 'space'.

It could'a happened... :D
 
Chris Jahn said:
it all sounds to thin, and i seem to get only the percussive side (the hand hit) and non of the shake. Any suggestions for this and percussion in general.
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You'll probably have to do some limiting to help control the hit but mic position will help with the shake. I mic facing the hoop, not the skin, and have the mic far enough away that it "sees" the tambourine over the full width of the shakes. If you mic off-axis try putting the mic to the opposite side of the striking hand so that it's furthest away from the mic when you hit the tambourine.
 
Try putting your mic on omni pattern!

Also, you should compress the hell out of it! :) Really.
 
Control 'jangle density by taping off some of the shakers.
(The old' sometimes less is more path..)
 
mixsit said:
Playing them?
Just to be clear here. :D
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Yes, playing them. Through trial and error I found that when I was "close" to the mic it always came out harsh and brittle. Having the mics in the next room (with the door open of course) it tamed the transients and I could get the percussion to sit much better.
 
The off axis micing is key. Put the mic above you pointed down so it is parallel to your playing motion.
 
Hm thats odd.
You could go into a very very dead room, use a condensor thats used for vox (idk what they are called), use a compressor and then add some cool reverb to it :D

IDK im a newbie so take that with a grain of salt.

I saw on a metallica DVD they have an overhead condensor mic facing down towards the tambourine maybe 3-4 feet above, and a ride cymbal undernearth to reflect sound, although they were only recording hits, not shakes.

Maybe record hits and shakes on 2 different tracks?
 
how's your tambourine technique? (seriously)

i ask b/c a well-played tambourine will be a lot easier to record than one that sounds like it was played by a dog's mouth. :D

(you know, just like guitars, drums, and everything else. ;))

other than that, i second the micing and compression recommendations made above.


cheers,
wade
 
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