a man rubbing his gongs

[buzby]

has anyone recorded large gongs before ? - a guy wants me to record a gig he is doing next week in a church with a few large gongs - one of them is 2 metres tall

i gonna try using a pzm and some condensers - although im wondering if a large hit from one of the gongs would wreck the diaphragm in the condenser

thing is - he 's not only hitting the gongs but he's using mallets to rub the gongs to produce more subtle sounds so need to have them close up as well

any advice welcome

cheers

[shacoca]

Depending on the quality of condenser, I would think they'd be able to take the SPL. Like any good drum mic would. I know the Sennheiser MKH series can take a lot.

But, I've never recorded a gong before. Wow. Dynamic and frequency range. Sounds like fun! Good luck.

Definitely wouldn't use a ribbon.

[buzby]

thanks for that - i ll look up the mkh

[Pitch Black]

Whatever mics you end up using, I would also try recording with distant (pair of???) mics as well to get some of the church's accoustics. If the church has a nice reverb it could really add some interesting space to the recording. Especially on the err... rubbing. Maybe something like a Zoom recorder down the back of the room.

[swishniak]

stick some dynamics behind the gongs close up and have some good condensers at a distance?

[buzby]

thanks guys

i took a look a the church today and i think its gonna be real nice to record in

what you suggest is pretty close to what i had in my mind

i have a zoomh4n which will go behind - at a medium distance and hopefully if i get the loan of a couple of dynamic for close up stuff and two condensers into ableton at a distance - two pzm's at the sides and a copy of waves inphase for sorting out any problems afterwards