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Anybody have any suggestions on recording Taiko drums?

I have a possible project coming up where I'm going to have Taiko and voice performing. I've done some Taiko recordings before that while they sound decent, they aren't fantastic.

Part of the issue is (of course) the room. I'm not completely thrilled with the room, but that being said, I just don't seem to be able to get the dynamics and resonance shown really well. The performer will likely have a collection of drums that range from 2-1/2 feet to 5 feet across. There will likely be at least 5 drums used and perhaps some gongs of various sorts involved as well... Obviously we are probably looking at 40+ dB dynamic range to further complicate things.

Ideas?

--Ben

Comments

JoeH Mon, 10/24/2005 - 19:20

Well, you already know about the room....most probably the bigger the better, in this case, esp with some of those lower freq standing waves.

As for mics, I've recorded some african tribal drums recently with the DPA 4006 TL's. They're astounding. Another recent recording with them was Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Between the brass and the concert bass drum, it was goosebump stuff.