how to mike up a Cajon

[tom1946]

Hiya, can anyone recommend a good pickup for making my Cajon louder please?

I looked at the AUDIX 60 but it's nearly 200 quid, is there a cheaper way?

Thanks for your help.

Tom.

[Happy Jack]

Pickup? Nah ... treat it like a kickdrum.

Sometimes I stick a proper kickdrum mic (on a small folding tripod) facing into the vent, but most frequently I put a cushion or a folded towel on the floor inside the cajon and rest a normal vocal mic there. Shure 57 works well for me (because I have one) but frankly, it's just a thump, innit?

The RV range from Red Audio will do a great job for you, and you buy a LOT of those for £200 ...

[tom1946]

I have a couple of shure 57's and you reckon they'll do the job?

I'll go and try it, cheers Jack.

[EBS_freak]

If you are looking for a cheaper boundary mic, you could do worse than something like the Superlux E100. Should capture the lows and the detail of the surface nicely... without breaking the bank. Happy Jacks advice on the towel is good - folded tea towel, boundary mic on top, job done.

With any mic, you'll be relying on a bit of EQ on the desk to get the most out of your setup.

Edited September 10, 2018 by EBS_freak

[tom1946]

Just ordered one, thanks for that.

Job done!

[BassTractor]

Disappointed. Thought this was about "miking up" a Cajun, and was expecting some good Deliverance moments. 😥

[Happy Jack]

Tom, did you try the SM57 at all?

[Matt P]

I know i'm a little late to this and it's not a cheap option but we use an audix d6 on a bracket inside and then an audix i5 on the front face for some snap, you might get good results with an sm57 on the front and a cheapish bass drum mic on the soundhole/inside (the red5audio mics are supposed to be pretty good, certainly the rv8 i have is fantastic for the money)

 

the d6 then is deployed as a bass drum mic when we're using a full kit (cajon is for acoustic stuff only)

 

Matt

[Happy Jack]

2 minutes ago, Matt P said:

I know i'm a little late to this and it's not a cheap option but we use an audix d6 on a bracket inside and then an audix i5 on the front face for some snap,

Yup, you're absolutely right. That's not a cheap option.

I don't know where it is you do your cajon mic'ing Matt, but you're using £250 of mics to amplify a device that rarely costs more than £150 and usually less than £50.

No law against it, but just seems a little OTT to me. 

[Matt P]

Just now, Happy Jack said:

Yup, you're absolutely right. That's not a cheap option.

I don't know where it is you do your cajon mic'ing Matt, but you're using £250 of mics to amplify a device that rarely costs more than £150 and usually less than £50.

No law against it, but just seems a little OTT to me. 

it's mainly for recording TBH,the cajon was quite expensive if i remember rightly, our drummer buys kit incredibly rarely (he owns one drum kit that he bought in about 1999) but when he buys stuff he goes for the best he can afford, hence the overkill mics, as an indicator he spent over an hour to buy a cowbell, playing every one in stock (including identical models) until he found the one that sounded the way he wanted.

 

this is the cajon - LInky

 

Matt

[Happy Jack]

Acuna tellya how nice that sounds ...

[EBS_freak]

36 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Yup, you're absolutely right. That's not a cheap option.

I don't know where it is you do your cajon mic'ing Matt, but you're using £250 of mics to amplify a device that rarely costs more than £150 and usually less than £50.

No law against it, but just seems a little OTT to me. 

I suppose if all depends whats in your mic inventory. I personally wouldn't stick a D6 on a cajon due to the inherent upper peak thats useful for picking up the click on a bass drum... not so much use on a cajon. I have a love/hate relationship with the D6 cos of that peak!

If you are looking a cheap mics, you could do a lot worse than a bottle top piezo! A bit of EQ here and there - and you can get some quite usable sounds!

[Happy Jack]

Whereabouts inside the cajon would you attach that?

[EBS_freak]

1 hour ago, Happy Jack said:

Whereabouts inside the cajon would you attach that?

Pretty much anywhere you want... in the same way that you attach it to an acoustic guitar...

blutac!

Edited September 18, 2018 by EBS_freak

[tom1946]

Hi, yes I got the superlux and stood it inside the cajon on a teatowel and the results were better than anything else including the SM57. I've come into this with very little knowledge hence the post.

It seems to me that I need an amp with Phantom power such as an acoustic amp which my wife plays her taylor 12 string through. That gave a decent sound. I also have a 350w speaker, a bishopsound one that plays the keyboard, 12 string and bass just fine but I can barely hear the cajon through it. I did fit a cheap one of the above stick on pickup on and that did nowt through anything.

So.... is there a definitive amp that'll give good volume without maxing out?

[EBS_freak]

Whats your band setup looking like? Ideally you should have a PA that it goes through...?

If you want to put it into an amp that doesn't send phantom power., you'll need a phantom power injector.

[solo4652]

I use a Yoga D-606: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pulse-d606-Snare-Drum-Microphone/dp/B00785DZ8E  £22. This is for busking with a lightly amped acoustic trio at local craft/food fairs, and suchlike. If there's a desk feed available, I'll go through the PA. If not, I'll go through my Eden E10 bass combo. I can be loud enough without any amplification, but that means I have to hit the cajon fairly hard, which is not good for my neck/arm/shoulder arthritis. On a related note, I've also cobbled together a folding stand so I can sit on a chair rather than the cajon itself in an effort to stop me from leaning forward and slouching when playing. 

 

 

[Happy Jack]

17 hours ago, solo4652 said:

On a related note, I've also cobbled together a folding stand so I can sit on a chair rather than the cajon itself in an effort to stop me from leaning forward and slouching when playing. 

There's a well-known blues outfit in London called The Delta Ladies - they're actually two guys in drag playing guitar and fiddle plus a percussionist.

The percussionist sits on a stool holding a large djembe under his left arm, and he has his cajon on an angled stand alongside him to his right.

He routinely plays the djembe with his left hand + the cajon with his right hand + various bits & pieces with his feet. It doesn't just look good, he's also a top-notch percussionist and his set-up allows him plenty of variety.

[Pea Turgh]

On 21/09/2018 at 10:50, tom1946 said:

It seems to me that I need an amp with Phantom power such as an acoustic amp which my wife plays her taylor 12 string through. That gave a decent sound. I also have a 350w speaker, a bishopsound one that plays the keyboard, 12 string and bass just fine but I can barely hear the cajon through it. I did fit a cheap one of the above stick on pickup on and that did nowt through anything.

So.... is there a definitive amp that'll give good volume without maxing out?

Microphones are low output, so would need a mic level input on your amp. Phantom power is for capacitor mics, but is not needed for dynamic mics.  The Superlux will require phantom.

Plugging a mic in to an instrument level input will sound weak, so that could be what you are describing above, so I don’t think a separate phantom unit is the way to go here, as it’s still a mic level output.