FXpansion Japanese Taiko Percussion - Manual (Page 15)

A sense of spaciousness is essential to the taiko sound. This is because the final sound is the
amalgamation of sounds coming from all directions. To capture every nuance of the taiko’s allure
and beauty in JTP, we employed a squadron of microphones — three stereo pairs of ambient mics
and four direct mics. The mix of these mics can be individually controlled in BFD2.1. In particular,
changing the balance of the four direct mics makes a huge change in the sound’s character. In this
way, you can match the taiko sound to virtually any musical style — from the most modern
electronica to the oldest traditional Japanese folk music — without EQ or effects.
The recordings were made at GOK Sound in Tokyo’s Kichijoji area. GOK Sound looks like a
chaotic garage, but it is well loved for its rich ambience. Although fairly ordinary mics were used in
the recordings — Sennheiser MD421, Neumann U87Ai, AKG C414, Sony C-38B, Crown
PCC-160, among others; an SSL 4032G console was used as the mic amp — these were found to
best match the instruments and faithfully render the original sound.
We sweat the details.
• A fast-tracking Apogee Rosetta 800 AD converter was used to accurately capture the taiko attack.
• Recorded in 24 bits at 96 kHz (converted to 44.1 kHz for use with BFD2.1).
• Selected microphones suited for the studio space rather than esoteric microphones.
6. Recording Notes
Space-Shaking Sound