congaplace.com

I would like to know the proper way to place microphones for Conga Drums. Also, what microphones gives the best results.
I am a Sound Engineer for our Church and we just recently purchase the LP Elite Series set of Congas, one is a quinto and the other a Conga.

Hi body.
The best microphone for all aplications is the Shure SM57 because the frecuency of res ponce is good for instruments and the cost is low in comparation with others.
If you want other the Shure beta 57 is the best selection with no other, but the cost is more.
Bye.

Latin Conguero
Email: alex_mora_monter@hotmail.com

For a two-conga set-up, most sound guys place two mics right over the heads, leaving about 6-7 inches from the head of the drum to the mic. However, the other day at a gig the sound guy place the mics on my drums differently. For the lower pitched drum, the mic was situated normaly 6-7 inches, yet for the high pitched drum (which is your lead drum) the mic was right on head, not touching it, but righ on it. The sound was excellent!!!!!!

Strange, but when I position the mic too close to the drumhead, the sound is awful! Perhaps because of the mic or the recording system? I must add that I record only privately, one track congas and then cowbell overdubbing etc.
I believe it´s different if you want to amplify Congas with a PA on concerts etc.

I play a 2 Conga set up with 1 mic placed in between both drums about 6 inches above rim level and the sound is good. I wouldn't mind trying a 2nd mic though.

Thanks to all for your help for this, I have put some of it to use and it working out just great.

Thanks

I am using three congas in this configuration:

Quinto
Conga Tumba

I rented an Audix D-2 for a month so I could experiment in a quiet room and really hear what was going on.
I have discovered that placing the mic upside down in between all three drums (just slightly closer to the quinto and conga, because the tumba resonance comes through louder) produces an excellent range, yet enables me to move my hands without worrying about hitting a mic.

Good Luck,

mif

Sennheiser offers a 3-mic kit for drums, I believe they're E604s, which I have READ sound 'better' than SM57s. I don't know--they're about $20 USD more than SM57s when purchased in the 3-pak.

Also, I found a May Sennheiser 604 SD/tom mic that mounts inside the drum, which I think would be very nice if it captures conga nuances. It would be great to hear from anyone who has actually done this with conga vs tom. You can see 'em at

http://www.newmusictools.com/nmt1/sennheisermics.html

I have NO experience with recording at all...but I do find that SM57s seem to be the most consistently recommended mic for drums (incl conga) in the "low-end" price range. Just repeating what I've heard...sorry.



Edited By Bongo Boy on Mar. 11 2002 at 08:23

...also, the Audix Application Sheet (specifically for the D2) recommends placing the mic at 12-o'clock (from the player's perspective), 2" (5 cm) in from the edge and 2" (5cm) above the head, at 90 degrees.

I have very little playing experience, but having a mic in that location would be distracting to me--but I'm easily distracted.

Finally, I found an internal mount setup for toms that I thought was very slick, using the AUdix D2 or the Sennheiser I mentioned above (a 604 SD actually). This would be a 'permanent' mount in the sense that you'd pretty much leave the mic in the drum all the time. Probably not too popular with most folks.

Latest update--the percussion specialist at Audix said that the internally mounted D2 doesn't sound that great, and he doesn't recommend that mounting.



Edited By Bongo Boy on Mar. 14 2002 at 23:05