Ever record Tibetan guitars/music?

[deadxatthexscene]

I'm looking for suggestions on recording a tibetan guitar player. I'm going to approach is as if I were recording a western musician, but the music is obviously different. It's a simple female vocalist and a tibetan guitar. I'm not familiar with the timbre of the instrument or how loud it is compared to, lets say a standard western acoustic guitar... I've heard it on a recording but not in person... I enjoy using KM184's, even a 414 on acoustic guitars, so I was going to start there and see how it sounds.

Any suggestions are welcome =) Thanks!

[messiahwannabe]

i've recorded tibetan music before! how did the session go?

a couple of quick tips for recording exotic instruments:

1) many of these world musicians getting work overseas are at the top of their game, and have often recorded in decent-to-excellent studios in their home countries, so they may have some experience with mike placement you can draw on. in other words, ask them how the engineers mike them when they record back in tibet or kathmandu or wherever... when i recorded in brazil i worked with some very experienced studio percussionists who would just position the mikes and themselves in between takes, and they were able to get a really excellent sound without my telling them what to do every time...

2) use your ears and experiment! don't take the answers you get from tip 1) as gospel, some countries have a different aesthetic for the sounds they're trying to get - in india, for instance, everything has to be engineered to sound good distorted at a volume level of 10, because everyone there insists on playing their soundsystem at the highest volume they can. whereas if you're recording for an american audience, they may be looking for something different from the recording... so, wire up a couple of different mikes, move them around the instrument till you get a sound you like. it might not hurt to set up 2 or 3 different mikes on the instrument, and decide how to blend it when you're mixing...

[deadxatthexscene]

Thanks for the reply... It's funny that its been forever since I posted this and we got postponed due to schedule issues and other deals. But I actually have 2 sessions booked with her in November. She's bringing along a more experienced player who has recorded albums before to help her (us) out on recording this. It's such a low level instrument! We did some preproduction run throughs and she was very nervous and insisted that she shouldn't waste my time but it was completely understandable. One thing I was having trouble was the noise floor and cloth noise because the preamp was up so high. I'll definitely have to experiment with different preamps.

Thanks on the tips though, I'll have to consider that when we go in for our next session! Hopefully her friend with experience will help me out.

[joeq]

I have never recorded Tibetan guitar, but I have recorded some Chinese Lutes that were insanely quiet.

the player told me the original intent of the instrument was that a the owner would play it for a single guest while the guest was sitting across the table from him!

So I put the mics across the table from him.

Anyhow, if this guitar is anything like that, get your quietest preamp, mics with the least self-noise, and schedule it for a quiet time in your neighborhood.