Microphones et sonorisation pour cajons (2023)

FAQs

What mic should I use in cajon? ›

The Shure SM57 is a cardioid dynamic microphone used in live concerts and studio recording situations. It is one of the best-selling microphones in the world. It is not only used in a lot of music situations but has been used for the speeches of every American president since the its introduction in 1965.

Tuning your cajon

So it's really simple…. Tune the strings tighter for a tighter, cleaner sound and a fast response, and loosen them for more snare sound, higher frequencies and sustain. I personally tweak them a little, then try the cajon and tweak more until I have achieved the desired sound from my cajon.

A popular method for amplifying a cajon is to simply mount a kick drum microphone on a short stand and stick it just inside the soundhole or position it just in front of the soundhole.

Inside the Cajon: Placing a microphone inside the cajon is a popular method. It involves placing a condenser microphone inside the cajon, close to the sound hole. This placement captures the sound of the snare and bass tones of the cajon.

While on a regular kick drum your low-end fundamental might live somewhere between 50-80 Hz, on a cajon, we're talking more along the lines of around 80-140 Hz.

Place the microphone element to the side of your mouth to avoid noise from breathing. Keep the microphone element about an inch from the side of your mouth, but not touching it. Make sure the front of the microphone points toward your mouth. The front may be labeled with, for example, a colored dot or the word "Talk."

The pitch of your cajon can actually be adjusted by loosening or tightening the screws that hold the playing surface in place. Generally, the rule applies: the looser the screws, the lower the pitch. With a new cajon, the screws are usually tightened as much as possible, so loosening them up will be your only option.

For the Cajon to properly work, you will need to drill a big hole in the back panel. We used a hole drill with a diameter of around 10 cm. We spaced our hole 15 cm from the bottom edge.

How do I make my drums more punchy? ›

Compression is one of the secrets to a great drum mix. Especially on kick and snare, it's common to see as much as 6 dB of compression on a single channel. For a particular punchy sound, try using a compressor with fast attack times like a VCA or FET compressor.

Never put your condenser mic where you would not put your ears. Condensers are very sensitive instruments that respond to minute changes in sound pressure. Excessive sound pressure level (SPL) will eventually degrade the capsule's diaphragm the same way prolonged exposure will damage your hearing.

Condenser: Typically used in a studio, these are known for being extremely sensitive to popping due to their light diaphragm. It's very important for studios to equip their condenser microphones with pop filters to achieve the highest quality sound output.

A condenser microphone always has a built-in amplifier to support a robust signal run in cables.

A cajon player is often referred to as a percussionist or a drummer, as the cajon is a percussion instrument. However, some musicians may also refer to a cajon player as a “cajonero” or “cajoneador,” which are Spanish terms for someone who plays the cajon.

Acrylic Cajons

Acrylic cajons are considered the most durable option. Their sound is not as warm as a wooden model, but that's not necessarily a downside, especially if you gig a lot.

Nowadays, cajons are mostly around 48 x 30 x 30 cm in size and primarily made of birch or beech plywood, while some high end models are made of solid wood.

This rule deals with minimizing the audible phasing problems when summing several microphones to mono. The rule states that the source-to-microphone distance of numerous microphones should be three times the distance between the sound source and the nearest microphone.

DO: Speak directly into the mic, close to your mouth. DON'T: bang or tap on the mic to check that it is working – trust the engineer! DON'T: put the mic down carelessly – it can cause a loud bang, and potentially damage the mic. DON'T: cover or cup the head of the mic.

How fast can you learn cajon? ›

It's one of the simplest instruments out there and great for beginners. Like most percussion instruments, they are usually quite easy to play and have a low barrier to entry, but mastering them will require years of practice and technique development.

Typically, low-end, beginner cajons can be as inexpensive as $50-100, and the highest-end cajons can be as expensive as $400 or more. If you're looking for a good quality entry-level cajon, look to be spending between $100-250.

Quick Answer: Yes, it's entirely possible to plug a microphone directly into a speaker, so long as it's a powered speaker that works with mic-level signals. That said, we always recommend using a mixer for professional events or when you have multiple audio sources.

The pink port is normally the microphone input, and is usually mono but might be stereo. The light blue port is normally the line input port and is usually stereo. The green port is normally the headphone output port, also usually stereo. Check your computer manual to be sure.

Cajons have two basic sounds, unlike your drum set. There is the bass sound that comes from striking the instrument's front “drumhead,” or “tapa,” and then there are the higher accent sounds that come from the corner area of the drum.

Purpose: Most cajons will have snares to give some rattle or buzz to the high tones. However, some cajons are purpose-built to produce mainly deeper bass tones, whilst other Cuban-style cajons may produce higher, bongo- or conga-like tones. Cajons without snares will sound different to cajons with snares.

If you are playing very quietly & want subtle but clear bass tones then you can play these simply by striking your cajon tapa face with the pads of one, two or three fingers at the same time whilst resting the heel of your hand on the top of the cajon.

To get better snare wire response with a low and fat snare tuning, it's best to have a higher tension resonant head. If you don't need super sensitive snare wires and want to experiment, you can also try loosening the resonant head a little.

Somewhere around 80hz should do the trick. Next add a gentle boost around 7kHz and high shelf around 12kHz to let the snare cut through. Lastly add a boost around 200-250hz for the body of the snare. Always A/B with your volume levels matched to make sure you're improving the sound.

A standard 14 inch snare drum can usually be tuned sound great at a fundamental frequency of 170 Hz and also tiger up at 200 Hz too. Thinner and lighter drumheads can be tuned to vibrate at higher frequencies, which is an acoustics principle that applies to guitar strings too.

Which company cajon is best? ›

Fortunately, birch has the right characteristics for the cajon, since it offers a very sharp and clear sound. And just like drum kits, plywood is often used to make cajons. Most of DG cajons are made of birch.

Adjusting the tension of the strings

A handy guideline for orientation: strings that are too tight often create an unpleasant buzzing sound, while too-slack strings tend to rattle. So you'll have to tread carefully on the way to the ideal point between the two.

Compression is a major key to punching up anything — especially kick drums. For a starting place, use a slower attack and a fast release. A slow attack will allow the transition snap to come through before the compressor engages, and a quick release will make sure the kick doesn't sustain out and muddy the rhythm up.

The vocal should be the loudest element in the mix, but not so loud that it feels disconnected from the rest of the band. Since drums are short transient bursts, they can have a higher peak than the vocal, but not seem louder in context of the whole mix.

Tune the resonant head lower pitch than the batter head. This gives a shorter sustain, and also makes the pitch of the drum bend after each hit.

Toms. Start with a tom's batter head tuned to resonant pitch, then raise and lower the tension until you hear the drum start to speak. Move on to the reso head and aim for about a whole tone higher than the top.

The less air in a drum, the higher the note. Volume depends on the size of the vibrations that are made. Hit a drum hard and this makes big vibrations and a loud sound. Hit a drum softly and the vibrations are smaller and the sound not as loud.

Ratios of 7:1 to 8:1 are pretty standard. It's also not uncommon to see up to 10dB of compression on a kick drum to make it punch. Of course, the settings depend on the kick drum.

What is the best compression setting for drums? ›

A good place to start with drums is to adjust the ratio to 4:1. If the drums are still too dynamic, up the ratio to 5:1 or higher.

To get the feeling that the kick drum is thumping in your chest and packing in serious punch, you will need to accentuate its fundamental frequency which usually lies between 40hz and 100hz.

Shure Beta 58A Vocal Microphone.

they use a U47 fet mic for studio.

Condenser Mics

Most types of good quality studio condenser microphones are good for the saxophone, subtle differences between makes and models are often a matter of individual taste. I have got good results from AKG 451, 414, CV12VR, Neumann U87, U47, Rode NT1 and many others.

Mic the Top and Bottom

Most of the sound comes from the top mic; we recommend using a dynamic instrument mic like the ATM650. The bottom mic can be either a condenser with high SPL capacity or another dynamic. Try an ATM450 condenser mic to capture the high-end snap from the snares.

Specifically designed for Snoop, the Telefunken wireless M80-WH stage mic is truly the cream of the crop. Snoop's studio engineer Dave Aron, who assisted on Snoop's hits like “The Doggfather” and the “Riders on the Storm” remix with The Doors, worked with Telefunken on the mic's construction.

Conversation. Vocalists may wonder what type of microphone Michael Jackson used to record his magic. Known as the Shure SM7, Michael used this mic the most on his first few albums, including Thriller.

Another post-war innovation was the Telefunken/Neumann U47 tube condenser microphone. Sinatra's vocals had previously been captured with the RCA 44 ribbon mic, which had been an industry standard for decades.

"For the majority of his recordings for Death Row Records Tupac would use a vintage Neumann U87.

What mic did Bob Marley use? ›

A [Neumann] 67 or 87 on vocals was pretty much the norm of the day, so that's what I used for Bob, and everyone else went through an 87.

One for the Money: The Shure Unidyne I Model 556

This variation of the Unidyne I is one of the more recognizable microphones that Elvis used in the prime of his career.

Most sax recording is done with one or more mics on a stand. An SM57 will work although I'd normally use a large diaphragm condenser of some kind on a tenor.

sE Electronics V7 BFG Vocal Microphone - Billy F Gibbons of ZZ Top.

Hendrix recorded all of his vocals for the album at the Record Plant, and as usual a Beyer M160 was the mic of choice while a three-sided screen provided him with the desired privacy. "He'd always face the other way," says Kramer.

The snare is the foundation of the backbeat, and typically one of the loudest elements in the mix. Next, bring the kick fader up until it sounds almost as loud as the snare. It should be loud enough that the low frequencies are rich and powerful, but not so loud that it masks the bottom-end of the snare drum.

Snare drums' tunings tend to be higher than tom tunings, with the batter head feeling more like pressing on a piece of wood with your thumb. Top and bottom intervals are common, with the resonant head going slightly higher. Kicks tend to be lower than toms' tunings.

Mic Placement Is Crucial

Many engineers only mic the top head of the snare, while others prefer miking the top and bottom heads. For the mic above the snare, when it gets closer to the center of the head, it picks up more low end and less of the sound of the snares. It will sound darker and fuller but less snare-like.