Micing a Djembe (studio)

[Brendo]

Ok, so we've got a Djembe, and I'm going to be adding parts to one of our tracks in the next few days or so.

The mics I have available are:

Sennheiser e602 (Dynamic Kick w. modern scoop)
Røde NT1A (LDC)
AT 2020 (Side address SDC)
AT 2021 (SDC)
Røde NT3 (medium condenser)
Shure SM57
Bear Ringer ECM8000 (Omni SDC Measurement)

What combination would you place and where?

Also, we need to mic this thing up live on tuesday - check my related thread down in Live.

[malice]

Ok, so we've got a Djembe, and I'm going to be adding parts to one of our tracks in the next few days or so.

The mics I have available are:

Sennheiser e602 (Dynamic Kick w. modern scoop)
Røde NT1A (LDC)
AT 2020 (Side address SDC)
AT 2021 (SDC)
Røde NT3 (medium condenser)
Shure SM57
Bear Ringer ECM8000 (Omni SDC Measurement)

What combination would you place and where?

Also, we need to mic this thing up live on tuesday - check my related thread down in Live.



You will need two mikes.

The Jembe is a very bassy instrument but you will need to catch the bass from the rear.

I would suggest you but the e602 on the rear (don't forget to flip phase) and chose between a static (like the Nt3) or the 57 for the skin and blend to taste. Whether to use an overhead mic to catch the room (like the , the ..., damn can't say the word of the omni measurment mic, aaaargh ...) is debatable.

malice

[slabrock]

You will need two mikes.

The Jembe is a very bassy instrument but you will need to catch the bass from the rear.

I would suggest you but the e602 on the rear (don't forget to flip phase) and chose between a static (like the Nt3) or the 57 for the skin and blend to taste.

I've got some good djembe sounds with NT3 for the top, e602 for the bottom.

Think of the bottom mic as you would think a closed bass drum. I mean: compress and be ready to group-compress with the bass if needed. The top mic can be very open and needs to be fairly close to catch the smallest sounds. You can rig two top mics, one further than the other, if djembe part has wider dynamics.

Peace,

Slabrock

[Brendo]

This part of the song is already pretty full on - room would cloud things considerably.

I'm also worried about LF content - I've already got a subkick on the Kick drum, plus another subkick track on the Bass guitar...

What should I expect from the NT3 vs the 57, on the top of the Djembe? This has to cut through many layers of distorted guitars, plus bass and drums.

It is a 12" Djembe, the skin I assume is relatively new, it's what was on it when we bought it a month or so ago (when we wrote a song using someone else's djembe!).

What about tuning? Obviously there's no tuning lugs, I know you're meant to tune by adjusting the string tension, but is this something best left to an expert, and how would I know if it's out of tune in the first place?

[slabrock]

What about tuning? Obviously there's no tuning lugs, I know you're meant to tune by adjusting the string tension, but is this something best left to an expert, and how would I know if it's out of tune in the first place?

I assume you can tune it with a hairdryer, but i've never tried that. I've however seen native musicians tune their drums with fire, and i guess a hairdryer is safer than a cigarette lighter, much less a proper bonfire.
:lol:

The question about instrument being in tune reminds me of the day i bought a Tambura very inexpensily from a local pawnshop.

http://perso.wanadoo.es/sissu/images/Tambura%5B1%5D.jpg

I went to this old hippie prog musician with my newly acquired Tambura to ask how i should play it.

He looked at me slowly and said: "Well, you can play it any way you want."

No further questions :lol: ,

Slabrock

[Brendo]

I assume you can tune it with a hairdryer, but i've never tried that. I've however seen native musicians tune their drums with fire, and i guess a hairdryer is safer than a cigarette lighter, much less a proper bonfire.
:lol:

Ok... you got me intrigued now... what?!

[slabrock]

Ok... you got me intrigued now... what?!

No, this wasn't a prologue to some highly unbelieveable story or other. (Although i guess i got some to tell...) :Wink:

I just meant to say, that if you heat the drumskins, they go higher in pitch. You're probably not meant to touch the threads at all.

I guess,

Slabrock

[Brendo]

Ah... fair enough! Cheers mate.

See, I always thought it was done like this:

http://www.djembes.org/tensari.htm

[malice]

What should I expect from the NT3 vs the 57, on the top of the Djembe? This has to cut through many layers of distorted guitars, plus bass and drums.



All dempend how much of the "skin" you want against the" body" of the Jembe. That instrument can be rather bright, more than congas. It might be useful to cut trough your guitars. You should try the NT3 and see if it's workin.

The 57 might be too "full", It might have suited an arangement where the Jembe is the main percussion.

I mixed a tune where a very large Jembe was doin the Bd. This things can be very deep.

malice

[Brendo]

Hmm... yeah. I will post a clip of where in the song it's meant to go, tomorrow...

We probably need way more skin than boom. I don't know if I should still try and get the mic real close in, though, wouldn't proximity bite me in the ass? The part I'll be playing won't have much in the way of finesse, I'm no percussionist or anything, so it's probably better I don't pick up my nuance or lack thereof.

I've learnt some basic rhythms but I'll be pretty much be laying down a real simple part, the Djembe is not the star of the show, in this tune.

[slabrock]

Ah... fair enough! Cheers mate.

See, I always thought it was done like this:

http://www.djembes.org/tensari.htm

Yeah, as far as i see, that's how you tune the drum in general direction of a correct pitch. Fine tuning, however, can be a different thing.

Peace,

Slabrock

[Mixerman]

Ok, so we've got a Djembe, and I'm going to be adding parts to one of our tracks in the next few days or so.

The mics I have available are:

Sennheiser e602 (Dynamic Kick w. modern scoop)
Røde NT1A (LDC)
AT 2020 (Side address SDC)
AT 2021 (SDC)
Røde NT3 (medium condenser)
Shure SM57
Bear Ringer ECM8000 (Omni SDC Measurement)

What combination would you place and where?

Also, we need to mic this thing up live on tuesday - check my related thread down in Live.

The Djembe is basically a conga on the top, and a bass drum on the bottom. If you want the low end, you need to mic the bottom. Check phase coherenccy between a top and bottom mic. They're facing each other, so you'll have to flip polarity on one of them.

You can also mic the Djembe from a slight distance. The closer you get to the drum, the more focused the sound will become, so move the mic and find the optimum position by ear. The idea is to get an accurate sound of the insturment in the room, which is sometimes the desirous sound depending on the production.

Mixerman

[otek]

Sometimes for denser tracks I will compress the Djembe pretty heavily. This requires that you keep the room under control, however. Too much room with heavy compression and you'll have this arhythmical gob of reflections behind each hit.

But a "snare-style" compression will bring out a lot of attack and detail from the Djembe.

[Brendo]

Included, is a clip of the section where the Djembe will be added.

[archtop]

heck dood, you don't need mic'ing suggestions

you need a crowbar to fit that thing in there.

even then....good luck.