since dumbek's are along the same lines as djembe's (both goblet drums) ill share my dumbek mic'ing ideas.

for live play, ill use two mics if possible.  one on the head side, and one at the bottom end.  most of the bass gets channeled out the bottom so its nice to have that mic'ed to add to the mix.  if i have a choice, a typical drum dynamic on the head, condenser on the bottom.

if i only have one mic to work with, ill just mic the head side.  if i can ill use a dynamic with a good low end to it.  (dynamics tend to smooth out the high end some which is probably not necessary on a djembe actually).  since  youll probably want to comp for the low end loss.

I know that many people mic the top and bottom, but for live events, I think it's a waste ... unless there is no drummer, just percussion, and the PA can handle the low-end.

You'd be surprised just how much low-end you can get, just micking the drum from the top.

For recording sessions, I do mic top and bottom to get the blend that I want. But typically you can never have too much of the bottom mic because the low-end interferes with the bass guitar and/or the kick drum.

It all depends on your situation. If you have the mics and channels available, go ahead and mic top and bottom of the djembe. If you mix the bottom mic in, I will venture to say that you will use very little of it in most situations ... unless of course you don't have any other instruments covering the low side of the frequency spectrum.

As far as placement ... I like to use a large diaphragm condenser mic ... like a AKG 414B (or the like) ... and position it forward and above the djembe anywhere from 12 to 24 inches. This is great for studio recording, but for live work, you'll need to move it closer. In that case, you could use a dynamic mic for the task. There's a lot of SPL coming off the drum if you play it in the traditional manner. The slaps are like gun shots, so don't mic it too close ... but also not too far away. Obviously you want to also position the mic so that it does not get in the way of your playing.

Tuning and the venue play a huge role in mic placement as well ... not to mention the surrounding instruments. I would experiment to find the best for your situation.

if you choose to use two mics, when i was starting off and playing just a "circle drum" it was called, i used a broken (the strap part was broken) sony headphone taped over the hole on the bottom, it worked good and dang cheap...

Fireftr125,

Can you tell us what kind of venue, style of music, etc. you'll be playing in?  In my experience, about 90% of the time, you'll be absolutely fine with one mic on the top.  You'd be amazed how much low end gets picked up with just a mic on top, depending on the drum of course.  I've done this in quiet restaurant gigs as well as in loud club gigs and it's always been enough.  Also makes the soundman MUCH happier.    

Are you going to mount the Djembe or strap it on for movement?

I've seen many people use a wireless (lavalear(sp?)-like) microphone clamped unto the far end of the head. It was a drum mic, but can't remember the kind off hand. Either way, it allowed the player to move freely about and added a lot to the performance.

I'm a big, big fan of internally mic'ing percussion.  get yourself a 3/8" bolt and some washers and nuts, drill a hole, screw on a mic clip and chuck in an sm57-- you're done.  homemade may system.

you can take this further by using a mic w/ an integrated mount (the e604 or shure beta or pg56 come to mind), and installing a jack in the shell and making solder connections.

I mic my dhol from the inside w/ 2 mics, as well as my tabla... for live gigs, you're generally not going to get a ton of character from the instrument.  a well-tuned drum will sound like a well tuned drum through a PA; thus, OK mics that are well-placed should do a fine job.

At my church (full orchestra, drumset, choir etc, in a 1500ish seat auditorium) I've got a pair of congas I play. Problem w/ micing from the top is that I've got a tamb and wood block there, and those don't need miced at all. How would you mic in this situation? I've thought about using a pair of mics underneath, one on each drum.