Pimping my non traditional remo djembe

[Loveablesurfer]

I have two djembes, a 12 inch meinl rope tune and a 14 inch remo black earth. I love the sounds they both produce. I find the 14 inch produces a deeper base than the 12 inch but it also produces a higher closed slap sound (presumabley down to the different materials). I find its got a greater dynamic range but the open tones and slaps ring quite a bit.

I've tried muffling the drum with bits of duct tape on the underside of the head, it reduced the ring quite a bit but also reduced the volume and quality of the bass and closed slap.

I've tried Paulo Mattiolis advice on muffling them with a piece of 1/4 inch weather strip on the inside circumference of the bowl about half way down and a 1 inch long piece of 1/4 inch weather strip about 4 inches from the edge of the under side of the drum head, but its not noticeably cut out the ringing that follows the open tone.

Paulo says that his remo djembe when properly tuned and muffled sounds very close to the real thing, I find the bass and closed slap do sound as good its just the open tones and slaps.

Has anyone successfully managed to reduce the ringing by any amount without effecting the other tones too much? I accept there will probably have to be a trade off between less ringing and the volume and/or quality of other tones, I'd just like some ideas to optimise the over all sound.

[Rhythm House Drums]

If you want the real thing... just just gotta buy the real thing!

I've had two remos (my first djembes) a 12" and a 16". I tried everything from weather stripping on the shell to foam tape on the head to ducttape with patches of foam underneath to cranking down the tension as tight as possible. They're... just.. not... djembes.

I've never heard a remo that sounded anything close to the real thing. Remo's are great drums for jamming and taking out to parties/campfires, but if you are looking for that traditional sound, your just going to have to buy a wood shell with goatskin. You'll be amazed at how much easier the tones and slaps come on a traditional shell/skin and you will be much happier with the sound.

Of course I've had friends that wont play on anything but remo for their sound quality. If you can control the overtones with technique you can get some cool textures... It's all personal taste.

write me if you are interested in the next step... (red pill or blue?) haha

[Dugafola]

paulo mattioli...

funny how that dude is sponsored by Remo and endorses putting weather stripping and other mods on it to change the sound.

that's all i'm going to say about that dude...

but for real surfer, donate that piece to charity and get a "real" drum if you're worried about the sound.

[Loveablesurfer]

but for real surfer, donate that piece to charity and get a "real" drum if you're worried about the sound.

Ha ha! I happen to love this piece! I've had 5 djembes over the years, three traditional rope tune imports of unknown origins (which I sold when I moved back to the UK 3 years ago) the 14 inch remo and recently a 12 inch meinl traditional african rope tune (which for a manufactured piece I'm WELL impressed with).

I don't consider the Remo a real djembe but I personally find it more suitable for acoustic rock/contemporary sets than a real djembe. I love the crisp closed slap sounds and the deep, clear bass sounds of the remo, I like the open tones too, i'm just not mad on the ringing that follows if I don't hit the drum again in time to drown/cancel it out! I guess the meinl isn't a real djembe per say, I like the sounds that come out of it!

[Beerfola]

I also own both traditional and Remo. The Remos don't get much play anymore because I prefer the sound of traditional djembes while playing djembe rhythms and techniques. I have not been able to control the ringing and overtones. I don't take the traditionals out to play in the mist, fog or rain. If I had to play in those conditions I would probably still choose one of my less choice djembes over the Remo. I think this is ALL comes down personal preference and the fact that I have a choice that others may not be afforded. However, as drums and putting tradition aside, I like the way the Remos sound when played with brushes or mallets. This is also something I wouldn't do with one of my finer djembes.

[Loveablesurfer]

Thanks for all your advice. Has anyone had any experience of the Remo Nuskyn heads? They are supposed to have less overtones.

[Rhythm House Drums]

I've headed quite a few shells with the NuSkyn heads. I think it sounds pretty good. Still not as warm/natural as a real head, but it's acceptable for someone wanting more of a traditional sound without using animal hide.

I've found that they sound best with Iroko wood shells. Only problem is that you have to find the shell to fit the head cause the heads come pre-molded... the rings will end up a bit big because of the shape of the heads.. but again, for vegetarian / vegan drummers... I haven't heard anything better than an Iroko shell with the NuSkyn heads.

I'm actually starting on one right now. I'll post a pic once I finish.

[bubudi]

was at a drum & dance workshop today (drumming taught by aliou sylla, ex perc de guinee) with james and some other buddies. james left his drum in ireland but the organisers of the workshop assured us that there were plenty of djembes for hire. turned out they had lots of drums made of hare, some lenke and a few iroko, but they were all headed with that synthetic crap. james didn't like the sound of any of those drums so ended up playing a bougarabou! i have yet to hear a decent sounding djembe headed with nuskin or anything similar. i heard an iroko djembe that was headed with sailcloth once and it was nearly half decent. if you want a totally vegan alternative, try that instead. my stance on skins is, if the animal is being killed anyway for meat, why waste the skin? in ancient cultures no part of the animal is wasted. believe me, goats and cows aren't killed just for their skins. there'd be absolutely no profit in that. if you want a nice sounding djembe, slap on a medium thick goat skin from one of the mande countries and crank her up

[e2c]

Sailcloth: no kidding!

bubudi, I'm with you on plastic heads, "nuskin" or not. To my ears, they don't sound good on anything, or maybe I should say "any kind of hand drum." A lot of frame drummers are mad for Cooperman products (http://www.cooperman.com/coopermanhanddrums.php), but... if you check out the videos on their site, you can hear just how bad most of the Remo heads sound. For some reason, their star endorser (Glen Velez) favors them. I'm baffled as to the "why" of it, though.

Edited to add: I used to be percussionist for a group where a lot of members really liked the sound of Remo "djembes" (with various kinds of heads). I was pretty adamant about not playing them, even though one of the other members had one and some people kept wanting to use it. I just cranked my volume on ashiko a bit so that they could hear more bass, and that was that. (Yeah, I'm stubborn! )

* Though I *have* heard Remo djembes used by some Brazilian artists (like Tony Mola) and, in that context, they sound pretty good. But these folks aren't aiming for a real djembe sound, and I think they've modded their drums quite a bit.

[James]

I can confirm those synth skin djembes sounded pants. The sound was shrill and metalic.

I did a frame drum workshop with Andrea Piccioni, an amazing frame drummer a few years ago. He demonstrated a few of his drums, including and oversized sythn skinned one.

The synth skins produce some jaw dropping sounds, that you can't get from natural skins.

This is particularly the case for the larger frame drums.

[e2c]

I hear you on some of the larger frame drums (and wish Andrea P. would do workshops over here!), but... check out the videos of Velez's "Mediterrasian" tambourine on the Cooperman site.

I can still hear plastic in the bodhran (etc.) samples there, too, and just don't care for it, even though it's more practical (due to humidity in most of the US) than skin. The thing is, Cooperman drums have good tuning hardware built into the shells, which (IMO) = why not use a natural skin head??? (Especially after playing a bendir that has super-thin calfskin on it; handles the humidity much better than goat.)

I guess this comes down to personal preference, really.

* Edited to add: I think musicians like Piccioni and Velez have the technical ability to make those plastic skins sound pretty good. But for those of us who don't, it's a different story! Also, I like the sensitivity of natural skins - to my way of thinking, they're far more responsive and capable of much greater subtlety in tone and timbre than plastic. Of course, that doesn't work in anyone's favor when the humidity hits 80+%.

[Erny]

Maybe you want to try my proposal, if you still own the drum:

http://djembefola.com/board/tuning-care/ringing-overtony-djembe-t1634.html#p10901

...Erny

[Erny]

...or this one:

http://djembefola.com/board/tuning-care/ringing-overtony-djembe-t1634.html#p13518

...Erny

[mamadada]

Remo- -versus Reallo!!- -it's horses for courses! I have had a Remo Djembe for a while now and I hardly ever play it as I prefer my other drums. I too don't like the boingy sound but having said that it has it's own caractor and I have never been asked to leave from a jam because of it! There will always be a compromise when using synthetic materials but again I have been to some great jams with people playing all kinds of mad things but the vibe was good and that is where it is at, even a flat clapped out drum can sound good in the hands of a real rhythm master so. Remos' you either love 'em you hate 'em! I don't think I will ever change mine 'cos you never know when you might need a boing!!! - -Good luck with you quest and happy slapping!!! - -Steve

[gonzaleandro]

Hey there! Greetings from Argentina.
I've been reading this reviews on the Remo djembes for quite a while; last week I finally got to purchase the Black Earth 12"; I've been trying all the methods you suggest and quite frankly I'm not pleased at all with the result, my djembe would be a great derbake (doumbek) but I simply can't play it as an african instrument.

I was wondering if any of you tried the djembe but with a real skin, meaning no Nuskin, Skyndeep, Fyberskyn 3 or such.
I'm considering just letting go on the Nuskin and trying a real goat one, I simply can't stand the plastic sound that bounces off when I slap it.

Well, hope not to offend nobody, I had high hopes for this djembe (specially with all your recommendations, and with the experience of having tuned some Remo congas quite well with these methods), but it's simply not working, I don't feel attracted to it at all.

Methods I've tried:
- weather strip on the inside of the bowl and below the Remo logo (forming a vortex as you may watch in this video, which I took as reference to mod my congas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h7T-4P7-xc )
- weather strip around the diameter of the inside part of the skin (between the edge of the bowl and the skin)
- weather strip around the diameter of the inner and upper part of the bowl, so that the skin would get extra dampening.

Anyone tried a real skin on this one (12")?