Welcome to Djembe-L FAQ - More About Remo Drums

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With respect to the Remo Djembe: My experience with both importing and rebuilding imported djembe's from virtually every country in West Africa, as well as carving literally 1000's of them, both by hand, with chain saws, and finally with a specialized carving machine has given me some significant experience to draw on with respect to design parameters, dimensions, proportions, skin thickness',types etc. In addition to this being a player myself, and studying with the likes of Mamady Keita, Karamba, Dibo Camara, Yamousa Camara, Abdoulaye Diakete,and Kemoko Sano, I have a pretty good ear for what a Djembe should sound like.There are no absolutes here however,everyone may hold a slightly different idea about what is a great djembe or djembe sound, and often times that opinion may be biased by what a given individual is currently the proud owner of.

The Bottom line which I will jump to now, for those of you short on time with lots of e-mail to read is this:The sound and spirit of any drum,djembe, djundjun or whatever is determined more by the player of the drum than anything else via the following:

1) Good hand technique which in turn will produce good clean tonality. (From my experience it is quite commonplace to hear great slap, tone and bass coming from what would be considered by many to be a loose or "ringy" head)

2) A players attention to fine tuning his or her drum to achieve the desired sound quality. (Whether you are getting a drum straight off a boat from Africa, or off the showroom floor, a big part of what it is to develop a great drum sound is taking the time to tune and tweak that drum until it speaks for you.)

Many hand drummers may not be aware of this (especially newbies) but any drum set player worth his salt will confirm that you can buy a $10,000 top of the line drum set, and it too will sound less than desirable right out of the box if left untuned, you have got to take the time to tune it up. Every master drummer I have ever spent time with enjoyed spending time when not playing,tuning their drum, changing the head, and experimenting to achieve the exact sound they like. Taking your drum apart, tweaking it , tuning and experimenting with it until it sings for you is a very empowering experience.

3) Anyone who saw "Stomp" can tell you that what an incredible sound and spirit can be achieved by a gathering of passionate percussionists utilizing bonifide "JUNK". Give one of these artists or any drummer with that kind of spirit a Remo djembe and I guarantee it will blow your mind. The mind set of focusing to much on equipment is not found in African players, where master drummers can be seen playing drums that are battered, out of round, laced with leather or whatever quality rope is available, with kessingkessings made from rusty tin cans, but the drums sound great in the hands of a Spirited master, and after all the sound is what really matters. I have seen master drummers who prefer calf and antelope thickness' of skin on their drums, and others who like it paper thin as in a young female goat. As Abdoulaye Diakete once put it:

In an interview with Modern Drummer the late great Papa Joe Jones of the Count Basie Ensemble when asked what kind of equipment he played, replied that "I play an old Japanese set, young drummers these days place to much emphasis on equipment and not enough on technique and tuning."

All of the above hold true for the Remo Djembe,as much as it does any drum, if you work on your technique, take the time to tune the drum to your taste (See the tuning tips I posted on the FAQ for some pointers on tuning the Remo djembe), use this as a start and spend more time on your technique, you will find you can make the drum sound positively excellent.

With respect to the Remo Djembe head: The head will not very with the weather or humidity, a distinct advantage in virtually any situation where this happens, whether you are a touring professional, at an outdoor drum gathering, or just want a more stable head less susceptible to going flaccid or tearing due to humidity changes. No animals were harmed in any manner to create it. The current head is a Mondo (Earth) type 2, which is a second generation design and is equivalent to a medium thick goatskin from Africa. The thicker the skin the more full bodied the harmonic overtone structure is, the thinner the skin the dryer or more diminished the overtone structure is. A thicker skin will produce a warmer sound and a great slap, tone and bass but it does require a bit more tension then its thinner counterpart. The ringing of harmonics becomes a very rich and powerful full bodied slap, tone and bass under proper tension.

Recently I have experimented with no modification whatsoever except for a significant tensioning of the head above factory settings and only a one inch piece of duct tape on the bottom to achieve a great full bodied sound on my 14" Remo Djembe. A tip is to bring it up slowly, one turn at a time moving in a circular pattern around the drum, test it with a slap after each lug. Test for low points by holding your finger in the middle of the skin and pressing lightly, then tap above each lug to find any which may be lower in tone than the rest. Once you hear the clean slap, stop tuning. If you continue tightening you will choke the head, if the drum head is way out of tune with itself, higher and lower in spots you will get harmonic interference. Once you break it in you will hardly ever have to tune it again. Just check it with your ear and finger/tapping, and slap tone, a little tweak now and then is all you'll ever need. Note that a lighter technique is all that you will need to achieve the slap on this head, do not overpower it, you will find it very fast and effortless to play.

I am currently working on a new head for those who prefer a dryer sound.I will test the second prototype on Monday. It is something I have been pushing for, for a long time.I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT! It has a sound that is much dryer and requires less tension, and is extremely responsive and sensitive. The slap is easy to get and there is no ring whatsoever. I think this will be a very well received sound. The Djembe has seen many improvements over its brief lifetime, and both Remo and I are committed to improving it on an ongoing basis. There are some other exciting developments which I will fill you in on later as time allows me to write more on this topic.

The Remo Djembe body is made of Acousticon II, and is extremely well suited for Djembe drum making because it is extremely strong yet lightweight, and very resonant. It is made with recycled hardwood fiber which is soaked, and re-oriented, then combined with resins to create the body of the drum. It has a higher resonance than maple, and no rain forest trees were taken to create it.The finished body is sealed and covered with authentic African Kinte cloth (Paulo Model) and a variety of other finishes are also available. The bottom now has a rubber foot so it will not break when played on cement or asphalt. Anyone who has had to lug a heavy djembe around will really appreciate the light weight. And the body will not crack due to humidity changes as wood is prone to, this is not a worry with this drum, period.

With respect to the opening,you will find the size of the opening to be very much in line with that of some of the greatest Djembe masters traditional drums. Take a look at Mamady Keitas personal drum and you will see what I am talking about.This size of an opening gives a more powerful slap and tone with more presence, and quicker bass whose fundamental is more pronounced as more of it falls within the 20-20,000 hz human hearing range.The smaller the hole the lower the note, if you go to small the bass gets lost in the sub-sonic frequency range,in addition the tone and slap become more subdued and have less overall presence.

The interior surface of the drum is smooth to enhance the high frequency and bass response,if you wish to reduce the higher harmonics to suit your taste or application than simply add some Remo muffle,or foam weather stripping until it sounds dry enough for your taste. You can always take away resonance, but you can't add it if it is not there to begin with. You will no doubt want it all under conditions such as outdoor concerts where maximum presence is a big plus.

Raul Rico of Santana,Chalo Eduardo of Sergio Mendez, Leon Mobly of Djembe, and I all got together to perform at the San Francisco Carnival Parade on Remo Djembes and Signature Djundjuns along with Escola Nova de Samba and Mei Noiche and the Midnight Drums playing a full Brazilian Batteria of Remo drums. The sound of that ensemble was awesome, and the Djembes could be heard very clearly when calling out the signals over the sound of forty huge Surdo's, and repiniques, tamborims, pandieros, and more, many played with huge sticks. We lined up for hours and marched for over six miles in scorching hot sun, then played a huge block party for 25,000 people in the street scene.After that to top it off we played the Samba ball that night. Never did my Remo Djembe threaten to pop on me from the heat,or go soggy in the night fog of San Francisco.It was light enough to march with all day long and still have energy left to play all night. The sound I heard coming from Chalo, Raul, and all the rest was phenomenal, and a good time was had by all. I do not think we could have done what we did that day on any other drum.

For more info. on tuning/technique resources, please e-mail me directly at the below address or call my office at (818) 591-3111, or (800) 733-DRUM (3786), Fax (818) 591-6756. Office Hours are 9:00-5:00PM Monday - Friday.

From: 93JohnAle@sps.schoolzone.co.uk

Hi
yeah i have the same trouble with my remo. i have experimented with many techniques but the one i found most effective was to take a peice of duct tape, or weatherstripping and stick a 1/4" piece to the underside of the skin between the middle and edge of the head.

This worked to a certain extent but, mostly, it deadened the bass tone without eliminating the ping.Try experimenting with sticking 5 penny coins(to the same spot)
The ping got on my nerves at first as well, but by using a less amount of tape, the drum is still pingy, but it gives a very distinctive and clear sound which i love for solo and group drumming, and you can actually enjoy the pingy sound if you accept it.

If you do come up with any better suggestions please let me know.
regards
Alex

To: <TexasDrums@onelist.com>

Sent:

From: Spencer Dawkins <sdawkins@nortelnetworks.com>
Monday, March 29, 1999 7:13 PM

I've gotta ask. Have you played one of the new Remo djembes?

I've got a 14-inch Remo djembe (fossil fantasy finish, unbelievably ugly, but It Does Stand Out), and I love it, but...

It's heavy. It's really heavy.

The new ones are something like 60-percent lighter than the old ones. They are shaped like a more traditional wooden djembe and don't have as thick a bowl, so they are easier to grip with your knees when you play sitting down.
I've also got stuff stuck to the bottom of MY drumhead, so I know you can deaden the ring, but this does affect the rest of the sound.

I haven't tuned one of the new ones yet, but I play lots of pretuned Remo doumbeks and stuff that don't get tuned at all, and I tune my old-style Remo djembe once a year whether I need to or not, so I would be surprised if the synthetic cords are any more affected by the weather than the synthetic heads or the acousticon shells.

I was carrying my djembe through a crowded doorway at Across the Street Bar one night and it swung loose and bopped a dancer in the head. It's a really heavy drum.

I still play my old one, and haven't traded it in, but if I was looking for a new drum, I'd check the new-style djembes out for sure.

(And, on a semi-related topic - I notice that Toca is now making fiberglass congas with Remo Mondo heads - just in case anyone wants to stand next to the djembe circle in the pouring rain!)

Spencer the wonder hamster

From: j'lynn yeates [SMTP:jyeates@realtime.net]
Sent: Monday, March 29, 1999 1:59 PM
Subject: [TexasDrums] Re: WHERE CAN I GET A GOOD DEAL ON A DJEMBE?

on the other hand, the individual lives in a high-humdity environment (why he stated he wanted a sythetic body and head), so the lug tuning setup might be more suitable for his particular needs ... the "ring" can be worked out and it's nice being able to modify tuning easily on the fly. as for the "dig in" factor, a bit of work with a rotary burr to knock off the edges took care of the worst on mine and remainder could easily be padded out with a bit of leather laced on.

'wolf