Q. How do I record small percussion instruments?

By Hugh Robjohns & Paul White

The crack team of Paul White and Hugh Robjohns have travelled the world solving readers' problems. Here, they down the Hob Nobs and answer some of your recording queries in our Q&A mini-series, Sound Advice.

Hugh: Recording hand percussion is often more challenging than it would initially appear to be. Part of the problem is that often the sound pressure levels aren't that high — so close-miking appears to be sensible approach to take — yet a lot of physical movement is involved in playing the instrument in question, making distant mic placement seem like a better option.

 
Paul: Whatever you're recording — from balaphons to finger cymbals and thumb pianos — you will need a microphone that is able to deal with a very wide range of frequencies. As Hugh mentioned, some instruments are very quiet, so a capacitor microphone with a low self-noise figure (typically less than about 17dB EIN) would be a practical option in most cases.

Hugh: Agreed, percussion obviously involves a lot of fast transients, and the detail of the sound is conveyed by those transients, so a responsive microphone such as a capacitor is a must. But ribbon mics are enjoying renewed popularity, thanks to the new cheap components flooding the market. These tend to sound smoother and more natural than capacitor mics, without any resonant emphasis at the high end (which can be an issue with tambourines, for example). However, most have a figure-of-eight polar pattern, which will result in more room pickup than, for example, a cardioid mic. Some ribbons are designed with 'bright' and 'dark'-sounding sides, so some experimentation may be appropriate to see what complements the percussive sound best.

Paul: Deciding whether the sound of the room enhances or degrades the recorded signal is something that you will have to do after listening to what's coming from the mics. Generally speaking, domestic rooms tend to sound boxy and add little to the life of the sound. Therefore, you may be better off keeping the recording fairly dry and then adding ambient reverb (predominantly early reflections) when you mix. If you find that you're getting too much of the room sound in your recorded signal, you can place a broadband absorber, such as a commercially available filter or some thick duvets, behind the mic. If you're using Hugh's suggestion of a bi-polar ribbon mic, this will also help to negate the contribution from its rear lobe.

Hugh: Mic positioning varies from instrument to instrument, but my general rule for capturing a natural sound is not to bring the mic closer than the longest dimension of that part of the instruments that produces sound. In the case of a drum, this would be the head diameter, though as with all drums, you can mic them very close up if that produces a more useful sound, even though it may not be as accurate as miking from a greater distance. It's always best to search for the sweet spot, but as a fallback position, you can usually capture a decent sound by miking over the player's shoulder, providing the instrument sounds good to the player.

Paul: Once you're happy with the sound you're getting from your mic, there are various things to consider when actually recording it. Because of the inherent nature of most hand percussion, often involving loud and brief transients, ensure you record with a generous headroom margin — I would suggest at least 12dB. In many cases, there will be little low-frequency content, and filtering off the low end during recording can help reduce unwanted room colorations quite effectively.

Hugh: Absolute rhythmic accuracy is usually of prime importance with hand percussion, and if the performer's abilities are limited (playing hand percussion accurately for a three-minute track is extremely difficult and tiring), then there isn't much shame in identifying a bar, or a couple of bars, that work well, and then copying and pasting them as necessary in to the track.

Paul: In the event that you record a percussion part that just doesn't stand out as we'll as you'd hoped, I recommend using an enhancer, my favourite being the Noveltech Character plug-in for TC Electronic's Powercore platform.


Published January 2008