My Experimental Ballet Djun-djun
Posted on 7:49 PM, under african drums, building drums, djun-djun, doundounba, dunun, kenkeni, sangban
0
Well it all started with an idea, as most things do around here. This idea was to have a huge drum with a Rhythm House Drums logo on it to take around when I'm out and about playing everywhere that I play. I wanted something unique to the African Percussion world, and something that people will remember, both for construction and sound. My plan was to have a set of 3 bass drums to carry melody (such as the Djun-djun also known as dunun). I'm a rather tall guy so and wanted to play them ballet style. Traditionally the djuns are played on a stand, one drum per person, playing the head with a stick and playing the bell on top of the drum with a little metal striker. When the African ballets started coming to be, there wasn't enough room on stage for all three set up this way, so they adapted. They put one fella in charge of of the djun section and turned the three drums on end so they can all 3 be played, similar to a drumset.
It's been my experience at drum circles that LOTS of people bring hand drums, mostly djembes and ashikos. These are great drums, but where there are 20 of them each hearing their own rhythm... the music can turn muddy fast. Having a solid set of djun-djun with a solid player will keep the rhythm on track and keep everyone on beat. These things are essential to keeping the rhythm alive. So.. naturally, I'm going to build a set, special for me.. with my own little twist.
Being 6'2 I opted for a long doundounba (largest of the 3 djuns), because the one I have from the Ivory Coast, is short and I have to bend over to play it ballet style. I wanted the shell to be 18x36" and I wanted the Sangban (middle djun) to be in a specific ratio to the Doundounba, and the Kenkeni (smallest) to fit in the ratio as well.
I love the sound of walnut, and it's a wonderful wood to work with. I decided to go with walnut shells and head the djuns with cowhide. So... the shells are built, though not headed. I wanted something special. I wanted a deep, pure, tone without any overtones or ringing. I decided to turn the doundounba into a drum that acted more like a sub woofer than a drum. I used some speaker calculations to figure out what size port would work well with the volume of the shell, I also decided I'd stuff coat the interior walls of the dununs with a some fiber fill.
Sound is produced by the air inside the shell heating, fiber fill slows the heating making the air inside the shell think it is in a bigger shell. This is why smaller sub woofers use a bunch of stuffing in the box, it makes the speaker appear to be larger in sound.
The fiber filling will also help absorb any funky overtones or rings that might be produced.
So about a month ago I finished up my doundounba / sub woofer drum. When the skin was wet and had a lot of flexibility and vibration, the drum sounded awesome! Lots of low end, all the good stuff with none of the bad stuff. I was super excited. As the skin dried, it also tightened up and lost flexibility (as they always do). Since I used such a thick hide, I had a drum that was exactly what I was after. It was a short burst of bass... and I hated it! I realized very quickly that the sound I was after all along.. wasn't the sound I wanted. I want a drum, not a subwoofer! I've played around with it mostly in dissapointment for the past bit, and finally tonight decided it was time to do something. My shell was solid, and I was extremely hopeful of getting a killer bass drum out of this. With some new knowledge under my belt, I started the horrible process of taking the heads off the doundounba. (these types of drums have the heads attached using a style of pulling rope and using specific knots) It's not as easy as loosing a few screws...
With the head off I made these changes:
I re cut the bearing edge to make it not as steep.
I thinned the bearing edge a tad because before the rings were too tight on the shell and it was hard to tune.
I gutted all the foam out from inside the shell (well not all the filling but at least 90 percent of it)
I soaked the skins to make sure they were flexible and would sit down right with the new bearing edge shape.
I was soaking the skins for about 3 hours... while I was working on the shell. One other thing I did was switched out this super fat rope with some thinner rope I had. I wanted the fat rope for the visual aspect, but it was too stretchy and didn't hold up well. The new rope was MUCH better. I pulled the skin down on the shell super tight in hopes that when the it dries out, it will thin itself out just a bit. I'll probably have to loosen up the head once the skin is dry to get a nice low end, but I think the pressure will help even out the hide some.
So far it seems that this drum will be what I was after. It's hard to tell with a wet hide, but I have high hopes. I'll be able to tell in the next few days if this was worth the remake. Once I get this drum done successfully, I'll start on my sangban and kenkeni in the same style so they match sonically.
Here is the shell of my doundounba...
It's been my experience at drum circles that LOTS of people bring hand drums, mostly djembes and ashikos. These are great drums, but where there are 20 of them each hearing their own rhythm... the music can turn muddy fast. Having a solid set of djun-djun with a solid player will keep the rhythm on track and keep everyone on beat. These things are essential to keeping the rhythm alive. So.. naturally, I'm going to build a set, special for me.. with my own little twist.
Being 6'2 I opted for a long doundounba (largest of the 3 djuns), because the one I have from the Ivory Coast, is short and I have to bend over to play it ballet style. I wanted the shell to be 18x36" and I wanted the Sangban (middle djun) to be in a specific ratio to the Doundounba, and the Kenkeni (smallest) to fit in the ratio as well.
I love the sound of walnut, and it's a wonderful wood to work with. I decided to go with walnut shells and head the djuns with cowhide. So... the shells are built, though not headed. I wanted something special. I wanted a deep, pure, tone without any overtones or ringing. I decided to turn the doundounba into a drum that acted more like a sub woofer than a drum. I used some speaker calculations to figure out what size port would work well with the volume of the shell, I also decided I'd stuff coat the interior walls of the dununs with a some fiber fill.
Sound is produced by the air inside the shell heating, fiber fill slows the heating making the air inside the shell think it is in a bigger shell. This is why smaller sub woofers use a bunch of stuffing in the box, it makes the speaker appear to be larger in sound.
The fiber filling will also help absorb any funky overtones or rings that might be produced.
So about a month ago I finished up my doundounba / sub woofer drum. When the skin was wet and had a lot of flexibility and vibration, the drum sounded awesome! Lots of low end, all the good stuff with none of the bad stuff. I was super excited. As the skin dried, it also tightened up and lost flexibility (as they always do). Since I used such a thick hide, I had a drum that was exactly what I was after. It was a short burst of bass... and I hated it! I realized very quickly that the sound I was after all along.. wasn't the sound I wanted. I want a drum, not a subwoofer! I've played around with it mostly in dissapointment for the past bit, and finally tonight decided it was time to do something. My shell was solid, and I was extremely hopeful of getting a killer bass drum out of this. With some new knowledge under my belt, I started the horrible process of taking the heads off the doundounba. (these types of drums have the heads attached using a style of pulling rope and using specific knots) It's not as easy as loosing a few screws...
With the head off I made these changes:
I re cut the bearing edge to make it not as steep.
I thinned the bearing edge a tad because before the rings were too tight on the shell and it was hard to tune.
I gutted all the foam out from inside the shell (well not all the filling but at least 90 percent of it)
I soaked the skins to make sure they were flexible and would sit down right with the new bearing edge shape.
I was soaking the skins for about 3 hours... while I was working on the shell. One other thing I did was switched out this super fat rope with some thinner rope I had. I wanted the fat rope for the visual aspect, but it was too stretchy and didn't hold up well. The new rope was MUCH better. I pulled the skin down on the shell super tight in hopes that when the it dries out, it will thin itself out just a bit. I'll probably have to loosen up the head once the skin is dry to get a nice low end, but I think the pressure will help even out the hide some.
So far it seems that this drum will be what I was after. It's hard to tell with a wet hide, but I have high hopes. I'll be able to tell in the next few days if this was worth the remake. Once I get this drum done successfully, I'll start on my sangban and kenkeni in the same style so they match sonically.
Here is the shell of my doundounba...
