Topic: UDU microphone

[NySoulPoet]

I just bought LP's musuem collection UDU. I'm looking for a mic that would work good for UDU drums. Does anybody here have any experience with these clay drums?

[Mark Schlipper]

I do and its kind of a pain   A lot of modern Udu come with small little rubber grommeted holes these days for popping a little lavalier condensor in.    Which is a great idea.    But the one you have (which I also have) doesnt have that luxury.   Ive found that a medium diaphragm condensor works best.    A little less highs than a small, a little more focussed than a large.  

But thats in the studio.   I havent bothered using the Udu live at this point because its inherent sound is so quiet its hard to wrangle.   I seem to only really be able to get the high end in a live setting.   Not as much of the watery low end.    

Im actually considering getting one of the Meinl ones (called Ibo) for live work.   The lows are a bit louder than the clay, are nearly indestructable, have built in mic holes, and sound pretty darn good.   Might not be 100% authentic, but does the job admirably.

[Bart Elliott]

For live work, use a lapel mic inside the drum. The clayton Udu drums are equipped for this by providing a small hole in the neck of the drum. I recommend something like the Countryman Cardioid lapel.

For studio work, use the lapel and/or a large diaphragm condenser mic, such as the AKG 414, to mic the outside of the Udu.

Both of these mic techniques work well, and I've used combinations of the two in the studio. For live stuff, you really need to mic the Udu internally.

[Chu Toi]

I've had reasonable success using a combination of a Rode NT1 and a Shure SM57. The NT1 does a fair job of capturing the over all essence of an Udu and the 57 is good for picking up the slap sounds. If mixed well together, you can get nice results. I run both mics through Focusrite preamps.

I've only done studio work with Udus. Nothing live.

Good luck!

-John