Bongos, mic techniques?

Rob Spence

Rob Spence

Senior
Jan 11, 2011
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www.lynxaudioservices.com
I have a gig coming up where the lead singer has a set of bongos in front of her (well, a little to the side) that she uses during some songs where she either is not singing or singing backup.

I have tried a few ways in the past to mic them but have not been happy with any way to date so I thought I would ask for the collective wisdom of the forum... Since I am recording this next gig I want to get it right. I have one channel allocated but in a pinch could run another cable and get one more but would prefer not to. The current 16ch is a nice number :-)

Thanks.
 
Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

If you're recording, there really isn't a substitute for individual micing to be sure it goes down on the recording correctly. I know 16 is a tidy number, but sometimes you gotta do whacha gotta do...

Greg
 
Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

Rob Spence said:
I have a gig coming up where the lead singer has a set of bongos in front of her (well, a little to the side) that she uses during some songs where she either is not singing or singing backup.

I have tried a few ways in the past to mic them but have not been happy with any way to date so I thought I would ask for the collective wisdom of the forum... Since I am recording this next gig I want to get it right. I have one channel allocated but in a pinch could run another cable and get one more but would prefer not to. The current 16ch is a nice number :-)

Thanks.
Click to expand...

This was rather a surprise when I first discovered it:

I had a gig where the guy playing bongos insisted no mics be "in the way" so micing them like a typical snare drum was out of the question, so we tried out different settings and much to my suprise I had good results with a dynamic with a relatively wide pickup pattern placed midway between the two drums pointing straight up towards the ceiling, with the tip of the mic grill flush with the drum skins, plus a overhead condenser high above.

Obviously, S/N ratio goes down, but bongos are pretty loud to begin with so the "contamination" wasn't an issue for me.

Sometimes experiments yield unexpected results :)
 
Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

Got a Sennheiser e906 or similar? Place it in-between the bongos; adjust the height and angle as necessary to compensate for both the player's technique and the amount of direct signal you desire for GBF/recording fidelity.

Just remember it's not a djembe, so don't make the low end too pronounced (I'm pretty sure that's not something we should worry about).
 
Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

Rob Ottaviano said:
Great sounding mic if you got the coin. Bet you get them cheap in Norway lol. Never tried one on bongos, but they sound great on acoustic gtr's
Click to expand...

The violin version is on the short list for strings too. Damn fine mic.

I've done bongos/djembes/hand drums with 57's almost parallel to the head, aiming across at the hands. This to me, seems to pick up more of the hand work sound that I like to hear along with the actual drum tone.

Adjust the distance to vary the sound, but just last weekend I had two hand drums mic'd right up close like this in the noisey pub room, providing sound for my buddies from NYC/Ireland, The Mickey Finns.

Best regards,

John
 

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Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

John Halliburton said:
The violin version is on the short list for strings too. Damn fine mic.

John
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Great sounding but unfortunately a bit of a design flaw in the clips that cause them to fall apart (especially the guitar version, but same with the fiddle version). One BE I know has a drawer full of the clamps and just about always has a couple on return. On the other hand, i have had success in the field repairing the clamp with super glue.
 
Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

You can but several different clips and use the 4099D for all applications. Only difference between the different versions are the clips and hi/low sensitivity according to DPA.

But they are not cheap, price is roughly $704 including VAT here.
 
Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

Beyerdynamic, the clip is great on the bongo, the cowbell and skeleton are optional
 

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Re: Bongos, mic techniques?

Playing bongos seated, I prefer a single 57 about a foot below and behind the bongos, under the seat. The sound is better and the mic does not get in the way while playing. It should work well for mounted bongos played standing as well.
 
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