Djembe recording

[Robobo1]

The session was yesterday. Got a great vocalist/guitarist sound
immediately with a C24 on the guitar (a Taylor) and a pair of M269's in
XY on the voice. The C24 worked wonders, and I as able to position it so that vocal leakage was extremely minimal. There was a good deal of leakage into the vocal mics that I will be able to work with, but would rather not have there. I could have positioned a single M269 and used the variable pattern to "tune out" the guitar, but I prefer the fullness of stereo micing over eliminating all leakage. Regardless, the M269 is a great mic - it works wonders on voice - I recommend everyone have a pair in their collection.

And, for full disclosure, I also had a pair of Schoeps CM5s (cardioid) for the guitar, but immediately hated the tone, so they came down right away.

The Djembe took me for the proverbial ride. A Royer SF12
(stereo ribbon mic) was placed 111cm above the head of the drum and
stayed there throughout all the following changes. Many different mics
were tried... Started out with a 421 on bottom and a KM84 on top. Other
mics tried: Beyer Dynamic M88, Sennheiser e404 (I think), Shure Beta52 on bottom. On top: 421, e404, M88, TLM170, SM57. Ended up going with Beta52 on bottom, SM57 on top and the Royer SF12 as a stereo "overhead."

The percussionist was not a true djembe player, but he was an excellent musician, playing very solid drumset-like beats with great time. He did get good sounds from the drum.

I ended up with a carpet on the floor in that iso-booth... now that I think back I wish I had removed it. I put it down originally because I know the room and know that it has a slap-echo at some funky higher frequencies... the carpet tames that a little.

The djembe portion of this recording was a good learning experience... I'll definitely do it differently next time!

Thanks again for all your help.

[kats]

Nevermind the josephsons...

you would BLOW THROUGH the entire body from head to ass

whaththefukwasthat??????

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by kats

Nevermind the josephsons...



whaththefukwasthat??????

I don't remember the name of the instrument - I believe someone earlier quoted it in this thread. I can call Matt, or you can just surf a bit - I just remember the visual - unbelievable to watch. The last thing you expect anyone to pull out of a box of wind instruments in a session is a friggin' goat!!! With some sort of reed snoot affixed to it - truly mindblowing ( no pun intended)

I know the AMAZING Brazilian musical genius Hermeto Pascoal squeezes (or at least used to) live pigs on stage, Sun Ra used to have a whole farm - chickens and the like, and ZZ Top did at least one tour with cattle, and other farm animals.

Anyhow - tis fodder for another thread!

[James Krumhansl]

Just today i had the pleasure of recording a Djembe for an Alt Rock band in the vein of 311/Old incubus, My mic closet is nothing too fancy yet but I had excellent success with an Audix D6 on the bottom and a 57 on top skin, D6 really brought out the low end of it and gave it a very boomy quality, im sure that it would make the instrument sound weird in the traditional sense but for the heavy alternative rock sound they were trying to achieve i thought it sounded great.

[sage691]

Originally Posted by Berolzheimer

Dare I ask which end you blow into?

"Depends on the style of music and even on the individual songs."


couldn't resist!