RECORDING
LIVE PERCUSSION IN THE
STUDIO
by Karen Kane : published
in Canadian Musician
In the last 10 years,
I've had the pleasure
of engineering many African
percussion albums. Through
these projects, I've learned
a lot about the art of
recording live percussion
and its' been an amazing
experience to capture
the energy of passionate,
talented percussionists.
I thought I'd pass along
some
tips and valuable experiences.
One the most common mistakes
I've seen in the miking
of certain drums --
such as djembe or any
other drum with a strong
low end -- results from
the misconception that
one microphone alone on
top of the drum will do
the trick. Unlike the
typical one microphone
method of miking toms
in a drum kit, miking
just the top of most other
drums will not necessarily
get the best sound for
the situation. Using only
a top microphone will
give you plenty of "slap"
but not enough of the
bass. Most of these drums
are usually played slightly
off the floor which makes
it easy to put another
mic directly up into the
drum from the bottom.
A Sennheiser 421 microphone
or an AKG D112 works extremely
well for this.
For the top of the drum,
the 421 works well but
any good condenser microphone
also works well. Ideally,
if tracks are available,
I always put the two microphones
on two separate tracks.
That way, in the mix,
I can balance the two
microphones to my taste.
During recording, I EQ
the bottom mic by taking
out a lot of the mid-range
and highs, leaving a very
muddy track when you hear
it by itself.
However, when you add
this muddy track to the
top microphone you end
up with
a crisp, fat drum sound.
If you don't have enough
tracks, EQ the bottom
mic similarly, record
the two microphones to
one track balancing them
according to the situation.
Recently, I co-produced
and engineered an album
entitled "Dance The Spiral
Dance" in Woodstock, New
York with artist Ubaka
Hill, a master of percussion.
While I utilized the above
tip very effectively on
this album, in this next
story, you'll see a situation
where an additional technique
helped enhance the sound
even more. One of the
pieces was a djembe duo,
so I set-up four microphones.
Two for the top of each
drum and two for the bottom
of each drum. The sound
was great but a little
voice kept saying to me
"this could be better
still" but I wasn't sure
how. The studio in Woodstock
has a particularly "live"
room with great acoustics
and it occurred to me
that we weren't capturing
the ambience of the room.
I wanted it to sound like
you were IN the room with
them. After two takes
with the original set-up,
I asked for a five minute
break to follow my instincts.
I set-up an extremely
high quality stereo condenser
microphone and placed
it about four feet above
both drummers...and wow!...
the sound difference was
night and day. I was glad
I listened to that little
voice. Moral of the story:
it's important to get
the most out of a good
sounding "live" room by
considering the use of
distant microphones as
well as close microphones.
Another song, presented
yet another challenge.
Here's a quote from Ubaka's
CD insert notes regarding
this song; "This is the
first time in drum and
percussion recorded music
in the U.S. that women
of many different ancestral
bloodlines have recorded
together". In fact, there
were 33 women drummers
playing at the same time
in one large room. From
an engineering standpoint,
this was an enormous challenge.
Without a doubt, the theory
that "less is more" played
a very important role
in my approach to miking
this extravaganza. The
drummers were placed in
three sections (right
next to one another) according
to which part they were
playing, "bass, middle
or melody". In front of
each section, I placed
two microphones in an
"XY" stereo configuration
approximately "ear" height.
High above the room, I
also placed two microphones,
one in each corner. In
addition, I randomly chose
two drummers in each section
to place bottom microphones
under their drums so that
I would have some low
end to work with in the
mix. The end result--
the raw energy captured
on tape--is quite remarkable.
Finally, a story of a
wonderful spontaneous
moment in recording. After
a very long session of
recording Ubaka's album,
we were officially finished
for the day. I put away
most of the microphones
except one that I couldn't
get to because so many
instruments were in the
way. I went to dinner
(which in Woodstock is
a treat!) and came back
to the studio to visit
with friends (many of
the drummers were camping
out on the studio's property).
From inside the large
recording room, I heard
an incredible after-hours
drumming party going on.
I was SO drawn to this
intense, spontaneous energy,
I couldn't stay away.
I walked into the room
and felt an overwhelming
desire to capture this
"party jam" on tape so
that everyone could enjoy
it later. I snuck into
the control room and not
being fussy about what
format I was going to
record this on, (cassette
or DAT), I popped the
first blank tape I could
find into a machine (it
ended up being a DAT).
I then realized there
was only one microphone
in the room left set-up,
and it was not in an ideal
position for recording
(it was pointing at the
ceiling) but it didn't
matter, it was just a
"jam". I didn't want to
interrupt the energy in
the room by setting up
more microphones and I
certainly didn't want
them to know I was about
to record them. I wanted
to completely surprise
everyone when the jam
was over. I turned on
the EV RE-20 microphone
that was pointing at the
ceiling and recorded 11
minutes of this party
jam. Much to my surprise,
3:35 of this wonderful
energy made it onto our
album, regardless of the
"less than ideal" style
of recording compared
with the other studio
cuts. I suggested naming
it "Apple Jam" since the
studio in Woodstock is
called Applehead Recording.
So follow your impulses,
it may pay off in ways
you don't expect! Ubaka
Hill's "Dance the Spiral
Dance" is available through
Ladyslipper Records, Durham,
North Carolina. 1-800-634-6044.
