Miking a Cajon
There is plenty of debate about how best to mic a the Cajon. A room mic will have more ambiance, a close mic next to the bass hole will pick up the boom but one at the front will have more slap. Experimentation is needed to help find the sound you are looking for.
Here’s a handy video from bdubrecords demoing ambient versus duel front and back mic’s.
About cajonkeith
Keith is a drummer living in the UK. He loves playing the Cajon.
Nice video, and sounds great. My only piece of advice that I would add deals with the placement of the microphone facing the striking plate. I generally place this microphone MUCH lower so I am not constricted and my hands can move much more freely. If you place it low, and point it toward the top edges or even the center of the drum, the same sound is captured as if you were placing the mic like it is in the video.
To save even more hassle, Meinl makes an incredible pickup cajon with all of the miking that you need inside the box (much like an acoustic guitar pickup system). Just plug in and play! I would love to keep up with more people who are curious about the cajon, and I definitely want to keep the dialog going on these wonderful instruments. Hit me up!
Rock on!!
Videos like this are great as on the times I’ve seen it played live the sound engineers don’t mike the bass hole leaving half the sound missing!
This is why I really appreciate videos like this that show how to do it properly.
And the moral of the story is you cannot assume a sound engineer has detailed knowledge of how to get teh best sound out of anything other than the most common instruments
Don’t forget if you’re miking from the front and rear you may need to reverse the polarity of the one of the mics to maintain the full bass capture. Phase can cancel out the bass when the 2 mics are used together because the sound waves are moving in opposite directions (eg. away from the front mic but towards the rear mic).
right on… nice playing! And you have superb taste in mics – 2 of my fav mics ever. @Jen I loved the helpful comment about bringing the boom arm and mic lower and angling upward to increase freedom of motion for the hands. Gonna try that next time!
ALSO… does anyone have any critique on getting the best sound when you have only 1 available channel/mic and need to amplify the cajon? Sound hole or front plate? SM57 or condenser? etc?
Thanks!
There are about as many ways and combinations of ways to mic cajones that we could probably go on for days. That is what I love about the cajon. It is so versatile and can be used in so many different situations. You could also go with an internally mounted microphone.
http://www.kopfpercussion.com/products/Internal-Microphone-System.html
This one mounts through a 1/4″ hole underneath the sound hole. Works really well and is very convenient.
Thanks for the video!
Hi Vinay,
I don’t have a Cajon with a side hole to test but am interested in how it would sound. I think there would still be a similar amount of boom as it would be the only place for air to escape but being closer to the playing side could give a bit more slap. Worth an experiment I think.
Many thanks,
Keith