Advice on recording a tongue drum

[gehauser]

Anyone recorded one of these? I will be recording a 12-note tongue drum in a treated room that is smallish, but not super-small. I also have a larger, untreated living room with 22 ft ceiling (lots of natural reverb) that I may try it in. The drum is pretty loud when played with mallets, but mellow and soft when played with hands (we will be recording both ways). It's very melodic, and has a wide tonal range. It is tuned to a full D scale (less the 7) on the lower notes, and D pentatonic on the higher notes.

I have these mics:

LDC:
AT4047
NT-1a
CAD M179

LDD:
SM7b

SDC:
CEMC6 (pr)
SM81 (pr)

I will experiment with mics and mic positions, but if anyone has suggestions for what to try first I would appreciate it.

[7rojo7]

Depends on its role in the composition
Sound comes from everywhere on these, but they're small
for stereo, close, maybe good for the hands (one mic for each hand). with the mallets, further away for sure and stereo won't matter as much
I play one
They're woody but bright with the hands, less so with mallets, unless they're hard mallets. there's huge bottom that's not apparent with the ears but with mics you hear it (like hand claps)

[gehauser]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I have only heard it with the hard mallets and hands - soft mallets might be interesting. Agree, the bottom end is surprisingly huge on this instrument - shockingly so for its relatively small size.

[7rojo7]

I love mine
I have a bass Kalimba from the same company, Rosewood tongues
I stick on an AKG figure8 contact mic for gtr inside and an AT AE3000 over it. sick
It's tuned to D pentatonic with a minor7 and a minor3 above the octave, goes great with the tongue drum.