How to Mix the Hammer Dulcimer
Jun 9, 2010 Making a Winning Recording
When making a hammer dulcimer recording, the first thing to remember is that it is a hammer dulcimer recording. Yes, this seems like an obvious “no duh” type of statement, but this is important point because the way the album is produced changes drastically.
Dulcimer stays prominent
This means that the dulcimer should be the most prominent instrument in the mix. When people buy a hammer dulcimer CD, they want to listen to a hammer dulcimer, not your other instrumentation. Thus, I feel that it should remain front and center. I can only think of a reason to pan if you have more than one dulcimer.
Record in stereo
To see my suggestions for how to do this, read this article.
Hammer Dulcimers are not recorded often
Many producers/engineers have little to no experience with recording the hammer dulcimer, and it is a different approach than with other instruments. In the music production industry, most ears have been trained to record the more common instruments such as the guitar, piano, violin, cello, etc. And, not surprising, most music recording gear is designed to do well with recording these instruments. Thus, finding the right ears and equipment to produce a hammer dulcimer recording is a challenge.
Personally, I like an unprocessed sound. When listening, I want it to be as if you’re sitting next to it. Sound simple? Actually, it’s not. Recording equipment translates sounds so many different ways, getting it to sound “real” is tough!
Don’t over-compress!
I’ll start with common mistakes that professional engineers make with the hammer dulcimer. First mistake: over-compression. Since the hammer dulcimer is a percussive instrument, when it is recorded it is extremely easy to have hits which attack your ears. This is not always an indication of a poor performance, but is often the nature of the instrument. It’s very simple for engineers to solve this issue by over-compressing the interpretive life out of the recording. Some compression will result in a more polished feel, but hammer dulcimers simply do not sound realistic when over-compressed. Be careful!
Analog is your friend
The second biggest mistake of engineers is to automatically record and mix completely digital. But digital tends to be harsh. Combine that with a percussive stringed instrument, and you get an overbearing attack (which is why engineers will over compress) The way to solve the issue of the attack is analog equipment. From my experience, recording with top-tier analog pre-amp and mixing with an analog reverb (to add a realistic smoothness) will solve 80% of the attack issues. The other 20% can be solved with the mixing board and compression. To prove this point and for comparison purposes, listen to Stillness (pure-digital) to Desire for Departure (analog/digital combination) and you tell me which is a smoother, more realistic sound.
Control the reverb
The third big production mistake is too much reverb. Commonly, reverb is added to smooth out the attacks since they were unaware of how to record the dulcimer to begin with or other alternative ways to enhance the smoothness. While this is understandable, too much reverb still sounds bad, processed, and unrealistic. The hammer dulcimer provides enough natural reverb by itself that it needs little to no reverb added to it. In my opinion, the only need for reverb is to add a consistency, smoothness, and polish to your mix.
How to Record and Mix the Hammer Dulcimer
How to Mic the Hammer Dulcimer
Jun 8, 2010 Making a Winning Recording
After reading this, read the next section, How to Mix the Hammer Dulcimer
This is what my methods for recording the hammer dulcimer will sound like:
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I’ve found a room, about 8x8x8 with sound paneling setup to prevent room reverb is best; the dulcimer has enough natural resonance which causes conflict with room atmosphere.
Record in stereo! Unlike some instruments, you can’t effectively capture the complete hammer dulcimer with one microphone. If you’re tempted to record in mono for any reason, don’t do it. You’ll regret it one day. (And if you need mono in the mix for an effect, you can always convert stereo to mono.)
Personally, I like the sound of the hammer dulcimer to be very focused and responsive. I’ve found the setup shown in the photos to be the most effective for my desired sound. While there are those who may have good reasons to disagree, I think two microphones is best. I feel that whenever more microphones are added, the sound become less focused. Don’t try to make the microphone setup any more complicated than it needs to be.
The most important thing is the height of the microphone since this will effect the way it picks up the reverb and natural attack of the hammers. There’s no magic science to the heights since all equipment is different, just be sure to try different heights. Get the microphones as close as you can without interfering with the hammers or recording too much attack from the hits. (Also, I understand that the microphones with this setup may interfere with your vision…give yourself time and you’ll adjust) The bottom line for mic placement is this: you want the right combination of minimal attack and minimal reverb. If a sacrifice must be made, sacrifice slightly more reverb for less attack.
Also, the microphones in the photos shown are NOT the ones I record with. Do you really think I would share with you my top-kept-secret of the trade? 
When choosing a microphone, you want a large diaphragm mic which is extremely quiet and has a lot of sparkle. [hint]Audio Technica just might make a good mic.[/hint] Follow your engineer’s recommendation unless you are one .
Last but not least: use an analog preamp!. This will smooth the recording out and decrease the attack, saving you hours of mixing headaches. It will also create a warmer, more realistic sound. The preamp I used on Desire for Departure and The Entrance of Sound was certifiable the actual preamp that the Beatles voices flowed through for some of their recordings. So, it was ancient history fit for a museum, but in this scenario far out-performed a $15,000 21st century digital preamp which I sound tested along with it. There was absolutely no comparison.