I am wondering if anyone with more experience than myself has found a decent system of recording Tablas. Do you use two mics? What type of Mics? I'll be in a studio soon and any advance wisdom could come in helpful. thanks
Hey marc. i have recording many different instruments, (eastern & western), using different techniques. for tablas, i usually use a SHURE SM57 for the treble of of the tabla, and a SHURE SM58 for the bass.
good luck in the studio
HITS
As regards recording it all depends on what you want to do with them. If you are recording from a purely classical perspective then a good quality condensor mic a little way off the drums is the best way to go (this is how Zakir Hussain records for all of the Moment Records releases, see the sleeves for details).
If you're going for a Laswell style of recording (i.e. Low Def Pressure) then you may want to try to get some separation on the drums so that you can treat them separately. If you can place something between the drums and then close mic them (SM57 will be fine for that although the better the quality of mic the better) you stand a chance of getting tabla without baya bleed through. You can (if you've got the gear) also record on 3 mics, one on each drum and one for an overall feel.
Again with EQ it depends on whether you want things to sound natural or you want to push things out a bit. There is some amazing sub-bass in the baya which sounds awesome if its pushed hard.
As far as budget condensor mic's go try out an Audio Technica 4033, they sound great on tabla.
