Hand percussion mic?

[Ryd]

Anyone play any hand percussion? I'm working on my first album, and doing all of the instrument parts myself. I'm going to be playing a djembe, two conga drums and a cymbal at any given time. What kind of mic setup do you think I should be using? Three, or more mics?

[DrummerCafe]

The more mics/channels you can allocate the better ... all for separation and control over the mix.

 

It also depends on the type of vibe you want. Often times I use two mics on the congas, whether I'm using two or three drums, so I can have some stereo possibilities and control over the mix. One mic on the bongos, unless you can afford the channel to mic both drums. Djembe usually gets two mics, one on top and one on bottom. It's nice to be able to blend the top and bottom mic to balance out the drum, and gain back the low-end which is lost by only micing the top.

 

Djembe can be troublesome in the mix with it's low-end; so you may have to reduce it via one or more of the following: EQ, compression, mix volume, mic position etc.

 

You could definitely get a cool mix by just placing two overhead/room mics over your set-up ... and perhaps putting a mic on the underside of the djembe if you need more bottom-end or don't have a drumkit in the mix.