Sure, how about... a radio shack dynamic handheld mic, 6' away and 3" from the ceiling, pointing at the side wall, amped with a joe meek, fed into a sansamp, then publison infernal, straight to stereo tracks on 2".

That would work for the song I'm working on anyway. Don't know what your band is supposed to sound like.

Originally posted by Kgretlein:
Hello again Ladies and Gentleman,

Thanks in advance,
Keith
Proxy Music Productions
i like the earthworks-mikes for nealy all kind of percussion, they sound really natural & catch all the fast transients of percussioninstruments. if you have a tapemachine, record the earthworks with lot level to make a more compact sound.
if you need a warm, round sound, try 2 good dynamic-mics, one for each side, position like for toms or snare.
i would try mics like re20, beyer m99, sennheiser 421 or 441. shure sm57 have problems to catch the deep basses. you also can try with 2 ld condensers, Neumanns normaly nice for basses (& tabla have some dep basses).
condensers give you the more elegant, "classical" sound, dynamics more power, easier to handle in a "rockmix".

I'd try a large diaphragm in figure 8 pattern. Set it between the drums so you can get a nice separation and still get a good organic one mic type thing. If that doesn't work try what you see as the opposite. If not A then B.

My $.02

100 HEADPULL(proximity=out of ass)
110 IF A = "desired result" THEN 160
120 IF B = "desired result" THEN 160
130 IF C = "desired result" THEN 160
140 DEFINE("desired result"=obtainable, A=RAN(infinite), B=RAN(infinite), C=RAN(infinite))
150 GOTO 100
160 BASK(time=eternal, frequency=buddha mind)
170 GOTO 160

Hi Keith:

(Dead Link Removed)

I love the term " miking percussion" as if all percussion should be miked the same or sounds the same. you think a clave sounds like a tabla? there is no universal "percussion" mike or technique. Ive miked many different percussion family instruments and they each require a different approach. I think small diameter omnis sound like shit on most of the mid frequency hand drums Ive heard them on . Although Ive never recorded tabla I like a 4033 on bongo which may be simular, your milage will definately vary.

excellent point, riconga, even if a bit harshly stated. i should have been more specific - the earthworks QTCs excel at capturing accurate sounds from enough distance so that you get close to what the ear would hear as a combination of direct sound and room reflections... maybe a minimum of 18" away. This assumes, of course, that the room is contributing something desireable. on the other hand, if i was close miking hand drums like bongos, congas, or tablas, small diameter omnis would not be my first choice either.

Just did a very successful session with tablas recently. It was a tablas solo section over a fairly thick track and needed to be very present and detailed. EW omni's were too ambient, ribbons were too dark, 87's were too "puffy". Ended up using a pair of Langevin Cr3a's about 8" away thru Grace 801R with a slight touch of 1176 compression. This combination caught much detail of the performance including the resonant lows, ringing hi's and the subtle muted parts. The player was very good so it was just a matter of standing in front of the drums and listening, then trying to get most of that sound to come through the speakers somehow. For what it's worth that combination worked great for that player, on that track, on that day. Best of luck to you.

Hi All,
This is a question I know the answer too having done more than 17 years of Indian classical recordings.All condensers do not give you what a real tabla player will want to hear. when I started out ,I used EB451's with Ck1's or Ck22's then Milab ?, U87's then any condenser I could find. They all resulted in a extended high end accentuating the transient & not the note which is not how the musician hears it at all. The only microphones that give a result that every Tabla session player accepts across the board is a MD441 Sennheiser dynamic. I have worked with many tabla masters including Aneesh Pradhan, one of Zakhir Hussain leading students & bombay session player. The session producer's always see the tabla in a functionary supportive role, where as we in the west see it as a more musical & sonically infinitely more interesting instrument than the indians picture it. They usually want only one microphone on them (in between) ,even when more microphones are used the signal will always be panned in mono. The trick in mic'ing tablas is geting enough level as they are not loud at all & keeping out of the way of the player's hands & also picking up the notes rather than the sound of the extranious tecnique of the hands on the head as you dont hear this at any distance.
Regards Michael EarthMedia Studios Sydney

Sennheiser MD421 !!! - great results here

At the time it seemed like a bit much, but I used 2 Sony 800G's (they were set up & it was a last minute thing) about a foot away from the tablas. I was using 2 Avalon VT737sp's woth high gain off @ 0. The filter on & set to just under 60htz and had no eq. The compressor was in with a 4:1 ratio with my attack at fast and release at about 2 O' clock. Theshold was at about 4.
I'm sure all this depends on your percussionist, but it might serve as a good starting point for you.

Micing Tablas

I want to say that I have been pondering this question for a long time since I've played Tabla for 15 years and know what it sounds like from my sitting point, I tried this after compiling many pieces of info on the subject but I put one Sennheiser Evo 604 between the the pair of Tablas and an XY of AT 4041 3 feet above and mixed the 2 signals with amazing results but then I got rid of the pair and for a one mic solution, the 604 was kick ass! The Bayan was full bodied and deep and the dhayan was clear solid but not overly detailed.

Do you have a cut we could listen to?