hit, that sounds like a hollow shell being hit?

[Trog]

I can't seem to figure out how this sound is being made.
Is it just a tone or some other type of hit?
This video has it ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GEgdNUF5Ok&feature=related
I will see if I can find other video's where it is more clear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUNlkuxF6Mg&feature=related

[freefeet]

Just a tone if i'm thinking correctly of what you're referring to. Play around with how you get your fingers to strike the skin, practise will bring it out. Consistency is the difficult thing - as with everything in music.

[Trog]

I am wondering if type of wood the drum is made from will give it a better nutty sound?

[bubudi]

it's hard to tell exactly what you're referring to. is it the sound of the djembe in general or one of the particular sounds he makes? if the latter, then is it the tone? the slap? is there a particular time reference to when he's making that sound? please try to be specific.

what i hear in both these videos is that the drums are well tuned and both players have clean technique. the drums have a bit of overtone but it's the pleasant type of overtones, not the unpleasant ringing you get with a badly put together drum. in the first video there is a bit of room reverb so that's not really a natural part of the sound although it sounds good on the video.

[Trog]

It is there tone sound that I am referring to. I havn't been able to make that sound with my drum, which is a 13.5 guinea made of lenke with a medium goat skin.

[bubudi]

aaahh now you have a reference for the sound you aspire to reach! just keep practising. the tone takes the longest to develop! you may find that tightening your drum makes it easier to get that tone. keep thinking 'deep' sound as you produce tones during your warmup exercises and throughout your practice.

[Paul]

Nice vid.. Where is he from? nice popping tones, its hard to pick out the exact sound though as it looks like he is in some kind of hall which will distort it somewhat... Is that not calf he is playing?

[bubudi]

paul, both are burkinabe. i think i posted videos of them in the 'burkina style' thread. there is definitely room reverb happening in the first video.

[Trog]

I tightened it up a few more weaves and the tone does sound better.
I checked out a bunch of video's on Utube and there are a lot of them where the tone is not nutty sounding.

[bubudi]

the best help i can offer you at this stage is to advise you to play, play, play. use the resources here to get the correct posture first, then the correct hand position. when you make your tones, shape your hand so that more surface area of the fingers and the 'pads' on the upper hand are contacting the skin (but not by spreading the fingers... this is kind of hard to explain). when you get that deep sound, repeat until you have it on one hand, then on the other. then strive to get that sound with a lighter touch. this will give you that characteristic clean tone, but it takes loads of work to get there. do you have a teacher?

[Paul]

both are burkinabe

Yeah, thats what i thought... Its a different sound, I went to do a project with kamele ngoni last year and found that as the djembe focus here was so much guinea orientated I was better off with a conga player (though that was perhaps too melodic).. The sound they go for is often not as sharp, the accompaniments are not so obvious (though depends on the genre).. There are a lot of good 50/50 modern style (e.g. kit,bass, guitar, ngoni, djembe, tama/bala) malian music cd's you get on the street in Mali with that woodblock style djembe eg Yoro diallo, sometimes amadou & miriam...

I wonder is it an adapted sound (see, eric charry on modern malian music) e.g. the arrival of congas on the scene... Will try find an example later..

[Trog]

do you have a teacher?

No. There is none, all I have learned since starting is from the internet. The local drum circle is a free for all with next to no one playing the same beat. So I have stopped going to it.
Once I learn to play proper sounds with some speed ,I will start to try and play along with the rhythm of the month threads.

[bubudi]

too bad there's no teacher where you live. is it possible for you to make the trip to toronto once in a while to hook up with a good teacher? i'd highly recommend that. other than that, get yourself one of the dvds listed in the recommended resources thread. that will give you a couple of basics to help in your practice while you work on your sounds. when you work on speed, avoid going faster at the expense of being able to make distinguishable sounds.

[Trog]

Thanks for your input bubudi. I have ordered the set of 4 dvd's, les rythmes du mandeng.

[michi]

Thanks for your input bubudi. I have ordered the set of 4 dvd's, les rythmes du mandeng.

Most excellent choice!

Michi.