I saw another man playing this one time. He says that he planes down every tongue differently, to get the tone that is desired. He said it's less about how big the tongues are, and more about how thick they are.
That's how a musician will do it. It takes longer, but like you said, it changes the timbre, unlike just taking chunks of wood out with say a drill, which changes the pitch, and messes with the timbre, rather than tune it.
@@GrasshopperKelly it wouldn't take longer if you just programmed it into a C&C machine, which I bet is how most people do it... obviously lowering the mass by drilling out chunks won't sound great. Carpenters aren't always musicians it seems lol
@@JFairweather i suspect the transient was very high, which could make it difficult to hear anything after it if the volume is just low to begin with. A faster release on the compressor could do a lot.
every time I see a woodworker make an instrument I am amazed by how much they love to work with wood. And by how much they seem more like they want to work with wood than play music.:)
I made one of these in high school bc my shop teacher had one on display that he had made which I loved. The name I learned for these was “Aztec drums.” As an adult I have wanted to make more for a long time and could never find any info on them online until I finally found the name “tongue drum”
I think a thinner shell would allow for more resonance, coming from a drum perspective. Also like someone else commented, some rubber feet to keep it of the resting surface, would help from muffling the beautiful box sounds.
The tools that you have at your disposal make this far easier for you than for most, this feels like less of a how-to and more of a showcase. Still an awesome video though!
I love woodworking, and I love instruments! Would be very fun to make my own percussion instruments like these... but I'm always so envious of all the equipment people have in these kinds of videos. I basically only have a handsaw, regular sandpaper, and a few square feet of backyard at my disposal... it's discouraging! :P The dream though: make my very own guitar. Some day... some day...
Don't give up, Tim! I certainly didn't start out with all this stuff; it's an accumulation over more than 30 years. If you don't have the tools or the room, you might be able to find a shared woodworking shop, or a shared maker space. Just follow your interests and you'll get there eventually. Thanks for watching! -- Mike
i made my first guitar in my bedroom with hand tools and it was a lot less difficult than I thought just more time, I bought some cheap rasps that let me carve the neck down fast and if I could go back I would save for a jigsaw or router to make things a lot faster but you can still do it if you can get the material
That maple grain definitely came out beautiful, brethren! I have made many steel tongue drums, and superball mallets are my preference for playing, as well. You're quite correct that tuning is an effort, but experimentation (with carefully noted results) and careful planning go a long way toward easing the burden before it becomes one. To anyone looking to experiment with their own, I cannot recommend highly enough reading the work of Mr. Dennis Havlena!
Very cool build while liking both so much but for some reason I like the sound from the cocobolo just a little better. And very much like the comment about prep work I heard a guy the other day put just right " we put hours and hours or days, months even a year now spend the week or what ever it takes to prep your work properly." So true. Love your videos I'm hooked.
I kind of agree with you about the cocobolo. I noticed that right from the start when I bought the wood. You could tell it was clearly a good tone wood just by tapping it. However, I think my favorite of the two boxes is the maple and padauk box. It sounds "almost" the same but the grain is spectacular, especially up close and in person.
Very nice woodwork, i wish i had the same tools. About the tuning, it is a Mather of taste. Normally for this kind of instruments, i would recommend the pentatonic scales. Another things you can to to tune them without taking wood away is gluing some metal at the end to low the note or gluing a piece of the same wood at the beginning taking about 4cm from the note and 4cm from the basis. the balls of the Drumsticks should be gummy, (not so hard) or compacted cotton or similar. Thank again! great video!
In guitar making, spruce is used for tops due to its resonant character, maybe that would work on these too. Red Spruce (commonly called Adirondack Spruce) or Sitka Spruce are the two most common. Maple, Rosewood, or Mahogany typically are used for the sides and back, although others are sometimes seen too.
Just an idea to get better stability when cutting the top. Set the top in useing double sided tape. When your done pop it back out, remove the tape and glue away! Hope this helps. 👍
Thank you for a lovely demo, Mike. The drums look splendid! You made some good looking kids too! Glad they are playing music at a young age. Hope they pick up your wood working skills - so handy.
Beautiful job sir, what a great project to do with your kids too. I think it would be neat to build these in conjunction with some cigar box guitars and make a family band. Great video and great pieces. I preferred the look of the maple and paduke box and the sounds of the cocabolo.
Very cool first effort. The "kitchen acoustics" made for a lousy demonstration though. Take it in the living room w/carpet, soft furniture and curtains and edit in a re-do for the demo. Wood I Make It?... depends... I'd like to hear the demo redux before I decide. Thanks for the "how-to" build it instructions though. That was excellent.
Makle a small box for high tones and a big box for low tones. I saw a woodwright from Arizona at a show. He had this coffee table size drum. Wow! What a sweet low smooth sound. I like your Incra Ibox and angle guide. Nex time try a caul under your clamps. Good video.
I can virtually guarantee that the only wood that matters is the top surface. I would further bet that finding the optimum thickness of the top is more important that what it is made of. I base my comments on my knowledge of guitar-making.
In my experience you guys are both right! I have found no change in sound when making the sides of the box out of plywood instead of maple and some major improvements when using thinner wood for the top when making smaller tongues. However for a large drum 3/4" wood can resonate nicely.
You guys must have never heard of drums eh? All the woods involved play a role. But yes it was way too thick and I think shaving them down lengthwise evenly rather than drilling is the tech.
Also, consider stabilzing the parts in an epoxy resin in a pressure-pot or vacuum chamber. Also, some addition of pieces in the interior to create bounce for the sound waves for better accoustics, even if just some quarter rounds or angle bevels in all of the interior corners to soften the inside angles would help with resonance too. Accoustics can play a big role even in such a small resonance chamber.
Looks quite nice, but the top should be thinner for something this small. By using a thinner top, it would greatly increase the resonance of the notes, so they're not as dull. Having the tongues be slightly more regular in shape would help too
Thanks, Nick. I haven't had a chance to make any more of these, but I do intend to when I can find the time. I will definitely try your suggestions to see if they make any improvements. I really appreciate the feedback!
Just a FYI: be aware of where your cocobolo is from, depending where it originated it can be toxic, same for a few other woods. Just certain kinds you don't want to inhale the dust or may want to use caution. Happy woodworking!
Thanks -- I definitely want to try making some more of these when I find the time. I will incorporate the feedback that I have received through the comments, both for making the tongue drum and for improving the sound quality of my videos.
Awesome video, thanks. BTW I think the microphone recorded with noise cancellation, so it's hard in the recording to hear the analog sound and "attack" of each note one would hear in person.
It looks like the cocobolo box has a brighter sound, whereas the Padauk is more dark. Generally, if you want to make nice and professional sounding music, darker sound is preferred. Beautiful, though! Very good work!
The pitch of each tung can be adjusted after cutting. By removing material at the base of the tung or the tip, you can raise or lower its pitch. This is typically done with a drill bit. Have the bottom removable to do this, or wait to attach it after you've tuned the drum.
Maybe consider some interior blocking for acoustic bounce. 45° blocking on the inside 90° corners, some sine wave blocking under the low notes, etc... could be a real game changer to the resonance of the instrument. Also, consider tuning by planing the tongues instead of drilling relief holes. Should affore better resonance than the drilling. A tongue depressor has better sound than a 2x4, type of idea. Thinner makes better tone quality. Think xylophone, not marimba, these are smaller tongues. If your making a 2' x 4' tongue drum, 1/2" would be a great thickness to shoot for, but on this smaller scale, maybe between 1/8" and 1/4" and then tuned by plane or scraper on the inside? Just some friendly input from a guy who grew up with a concert pianist dad (surrounded by music all the time).
Thank you very much for the constructive ideas. I've received a lot of feedback from viewers and I'll add yours to the list of suggestions that I'll incorporate into the next tongue drum that I make. I look forward to making one as soon as I find the time so I can release a video with a much better result.
They will the "fingers" like those on a propane tank and they are called "Hang Drum" and they play them with their fingers. Nice job. Where I live it has gotten very hard to get exotic woods anymore. There are NO private lumberyards anymore. So I have to order it and pay out the ying yang.
Tuning is an enormous challenge. It sounds like Michael Thiele, founder of Hardwood Music Company has been around the block but I don't know whether he takes students. Just a thought . . . .
should make a cocobolo box with the padail sound board it would look amazing and you could potentially tune it really nice if you make one please post a video i bet it would be great! anyhow great video and great work on the boxes they look really nice!
There is a relationship between the main frequency emitted and the volume (cubage) of resonant chamber were the sound is reinforced, amplified...See the loudspeakers cabinet. Try to build the top at first, check out the frequency and then calculate the volume of the box...
Good advice. When I make MINE I'll make the tongues first. Then calculate the frequency and see if I want to further tune the tongue. Then based on the wavelengths of each note I'll figure out what the optimal chamber size would be.
I wood love to have awesome tools like yours but I lackor the talent to make even basic wood work. Mine would end up in the key of 'H'. I enjoy vids like this and I'm slowly growing more confident to try a few things
Played a number of tongue drums and found that there always seemed to be at least one tongue whose tone was off. The fundamental note was there however the resonance of one tongue never seemed to match up with the others. Too bad as I really like the sound the box produces. This doesn't seem to occur as often with the wood marimbas I own. I have a great tongue drum and it too has a problem with one tongue. Hope fully I'll find one some day where all the tongues are in harmony with the others. I just stay away from that tongue when playing it...Thanks!
Great project but the top needs to be way thinner than that. Also, you need a big hole in one of the sides, like a guitar, for the sound to escape. It will sound 1000x better. That being said, they do look amazing.
Just found your channel. If you can spring for it I would recommend a zoom H4n recorder/mic. It will give you the option of using other microphones down the road if you want and the on board stereo x/y mics sound really good. If you are using a camera with a mic input it's easy to run a small stereo to stereo 3.5mm cord from the H4n to the camera. The blue mic you own is geared towards pod casting aka your voice. Unless you plan to sit in front of a computer doing talking videos or voice overs I would recommend ditching it for the above and a lav mic (a lav mic will kill a lot of the room sound you're getting in the video, plus IMO the room remover thing you are using sounds odd to me or maybe it's the room you are doing the voice over in, I don't know). The wood whisperer uses a lav mic if you want to see how that looks/sounds. My .02 cents. I liked the build although it's above my head and I still have no idea where the heck to get exotic wood in my area but you got yourself another sub.
I really appreciate the time you spent to provide some constructive feedback. I will definitely take all of your recommendations into consideration. I actually did use a lav mic for the introduction and it has improved things a lot compared to when I only had the camera's built-in mic. I'll check out the Zoom H4n and see if it makes sense for my situation. Thanks, again, and thanks for the sub! -- Mike
Also, just found your channel. Great stuff! And beautifull tongue drums! A Zoom H4n will certainly help you! The sound in the playing test was not good enough...
It would resonate a lot better if you added a block of wood on the inside right at the end of your cuts. It shoulbe the same size as the interior measurement of the box ends. It will eliminate all that harshness.
Desde Argentina !!! Que espesor tienen las tapas de Cocobolo y Padauk ?? Aca no se consigue esa madera, estoy probando con maderas duras (incienso, lapacho) despues les cuento. Saludos y gracias por el video.
Awesome job, Mike! Notice any difference in the tones once you put finish on? Or when you drilled the mallet holes? Great experiment too, very nicely done!
Both good questions! I was wondering if the holes in the end would affect the sound, but I couldn't really detect anything, so I would say that they didn't have an impact. I'm less sure about the finish because I wasn't really paying attention to the before and after sound. The finish "might" have improved the sound, or it could just be me. They seem to sound better each time I play them. haha!
I have a piece of iron wood that I'm thinking would be very interesting to experiment on with a project like this. But by the sound of it, the harder the wood the more difficult it is to tune. I guess that means I'll have to be pretty careful when measuring out the tongues.
I'm thinking that it's the hardness that made it so hard to tune, but I'm not sure if that's the real cause. If that's true, given that ironwood is even harder than cocobolo, I think it would be worth the time to measure the tongues to get the pitch close to where you want it to be.
I have never heard of this instrument, and as such don't know what it's supposed to sound like, but I think I prefer the look and sound of the padauk drum more than the cocobolo.
Wonder if some experimental cup and ridge sanding making the meat of the tongues thinner and the joint thicker on the back side of the tongues would improve the sound resonance and sustain?
It's called a "teponaztli". Yeah, some people call it a "tone drum" -- but that's kind of like calling a piano a "string box". :) Doesn't matter what you make the sides and bottom out of, it's the top that produces the tone. I would not glue the tops; a solid plank is best. Shouldn't paint the tone wood, either, or if you're going to do that, paint first, /then/ tune.
The problem with the sound is because the microphone isnt picking up all the tones its trying to mute because its overloading the mic it mutes so it does not to hurt the listeners ears. Its like how some people cannot hear you properly over their cell phones background noise is loud so it mutes the voice and it comes through normal then it slowly dies off as their speaking.
Putting rubber feet on the bottom so the box is free to resonate would help the tone considerably.
11:44 He did
@@Blade2Raiden Never trust a Teemo
@@sandollor Never! :D
instablaster...
Yes, something with the sound recording went awry....can't be that sound.
@J. M. Nah they just over-compressed the signal
I saw another man playing this one time. He says that he planes down every tongue differently, to get the tone that is desired. He said it's less about how big the tongues are, and more about how thick they are.
That's how a musician will do it. It takes longer, but like you said, it changes the timbre, unlike just taking chunks of wood out with say a drill, which changes the pitch, and messes with the timbre, rather than tune it.
@@GrasshopperKelly it wouldn't take longer if you just programmed it into a C&C machine, which I bet is how most people do it... obviously lowering the mass by drilling out chunks won't sound great. Carpenters aren't always musicians it seems lol
I suspect Automatic Gain Control, or a bit too aggressive compression.
compression waaaaaayyy to high on that mic
4:15 “it’s pretty tight so I’m going to tap it in” WHAM WHAM WHAM
Lol I said the exact same thing
It sounds like it played in reverse lol
Exactly what i was thinking
The recording was done using a compressor that was turned waaaaaay up. There should have been no need for this.
@@JFairweather i suspect the transient was very high, which could make it difficult to hear anything after it if the volume is just low to begin with. A faster release on the compressor could do a lot.
@@JFairweather That is exactly what I was thinking!
It also may be that he had his lapel mic open along with the condenser microphone which causes some phasing issues
every time I see a woodworker make an instrument I am amazed by how much they love to work with wood. And by how much they seem more like they want to work with wood than play music.:)
Haha, yeah....I do love making stuff with wood. I can play the piano, but I'd much rather be building things. 😀
that’s why they are woodworkers and not musicians
I made one of these in high school bc my shop teacher had one on display that he had made which I loved. The name I learned for these was “Aztec drums.”
As an adult I have wanted to make more for a long time and could never find any info on them online until I finally found the name “tongue drum”
After building several rope tension drums, these tongue drums are one my short list of projects to do soon.
why would anyone even dislike this video or discourage his work
I think a thinner shell would allow for more resonance, coming from a drum perspective. Also like someone else commented, some rubber feet to keep it of the resting surface, would help from muffling the beautiful box sounds.
How could people thumbs down this video? It's great.
The tools that you have at your disposal make this far easier for you than for most, this feels like less of a how-to and more of a showcase. Still an awesome video though!
I love woodworking, and I love instruments! Would be very fun to make my own percussion instruments like these... but I'm always so envious of all the equipment people have in these kinds of videos.
I basically only have a handsaw, regular sandpaper, and a few square feet of backyard at my disposal... it's discouraging! :P
The dream though: make my very own guitar. Some day... some day...
Don't give up, Tim! I certainly didn't start out with all this stuff; it's an accumulation over more than 30 years. If you don't have the tools or the room, you might be able to find a shared woodworking shop, or a shared maker space. Just follow your interests and you'll get there eventually. Thanks for watching! -- Mike
i made my first guitar in my bedroom with hand tools and it was a lot less difficult than I thought just more time, I bought some cheap rasps that let me carve the neck down fast and if I could go back I would save for a jigsaw or router to make things a lot faster but you can still do it if you can get the material
It's nice to see a person working so well.
Nice work, Mike. The maple box is especially nice.
Thanks! I like that one too!
That maple grain definitely came out beautiful, brethren! I have made many steel tongue drums, and superball mallets are my preference for playing, as well. You're quite correct that tuning is an effort, but experimentation (with carefully noted results) and careful planning go a long way toward easing the burden before it becomes one. To anyone looking to experiment with their own, I cannot recommend highly enough reading the work of Mr. Dennis Havlena!
Is amazing how some few people have this gifts to do things like this ... when I see this I feel I can do to ... but no ... no no .
Great job
This is my first viewing of this channel. I am getting a lesson to use the saws in the make it space this week. I am so excited!
Awesomeness. Tamber is the term you are looking for. Pitch is the vibrating frequency. Tamber are nuances in the speaking voice irrespective of pitch
Nice work. As you pointed out on the birdseye maple box, getting the grain to fully hit flush on all four sides is incredible.
Thanks!
Your background music is 10/10. Thank you!
I kind of feel like I'm in a twisted dream at a circus in hell when you play those
How lucky to have the gift of an enormously enjoyable talent.....................................brilliant posting.............
guardsdepot Lucky? Gift? He learned that...
Nicky Romero want's to know your Sidechain Compression
Out of all of them, why nicky? 😂 kickstart is boss 👌🏻
yep I would make these, i don't have all the tools that you have. very good looking box
Very cool build while liking both so much but for some reason I like the sound from the cocobolo just a little better. And very much like the comment about prep work I heard a guy the other day put just right " we put hours and hours or days, months even a year now spend the week or what ever it takes to prep your work properly." So true. Love your videos I'm hooked.
I kind of agree with you about the cocobolo. I noticed that right from the start when I bought the wood. You could tell it was clearly a good tone wood just by tapping it. However, I think my favorite of the two boxes is the maple and padauk box. It sounds "almost" the same but the grain is spectacular, especially up close and in person.
Very nice woodwork, i wish i had the same tools. About the tuning, it is a Mather of taste. Normally for this kind of instruments, i would recommend the pentatonic scales. Another things you can to to tune them without taking wood away is gluing some metal at the end to low the note or gluing a piece of the same wood at the beginning taking about 4cm from the note and 4cm from the basis. the balls of the Drumsticks should be gummy, (not so hard) or compacted cotton or similar. Thank again! great video!
They're beautiful! The "kids" seem to love them too;)
Thanks, Ellie. Yes, the little kiddies loved playing with them. 😂
Great video but sounds like your transients are reversed. Wish I could hear the natural sounds of these drums - they sure look beautiful!
In guitar making, spruce is used for tops due to its resonant character, maybe that would work on these too. Red Spruce (commonly called Adirondack Spruce) or Sitka Spruce are the two most common.
Maple, Rosewood, or Mahogany typically are used for the sides and back, although others are sometimes seen too.
Absolutely beautiful! I want to try to build one now. Thanks for all your videos!
Just an idea to get better stability when cutting the top. Set the top in useing double sided tape. When your done pop it back out, remove the tape and glue away! Hope this helps. 👍
You are very pleasant to listen to and your video production is well done. Looking forward to more vids.
Thank you for a lovely demo, Mike. The drums look splendid! You made some good looking kids too! Glad they are playing music at a young age. Hope they pick up your wood working skills - so handy.
Beautiful job sir, what a great project to do with your kids too. I think it would be neat to build these in conjunction with some cigar box guitars and make a family band. Great video and great pieces. I preferred the look of the maple and paduke box and the sounds of the cocabolo.
В конце просто ангельские звуки, амброзия для ушей!
Very cool first effort. The "kitchen acoustics" made for a lousy demonstration though. Take it in the living room w/carpet, soft furniture and curtains and edit in a re-do for the demo. Wood I Make It?... depends... I'd like to hear the demo redux before I decide. Thanks for the "how-to" build it instructions though. That was excellent.
Honestly, I really might make it. excellente
Makle a small box for high tones and a big box for low tones. I saw a woodwright from Arizona at a show. He had this coffee table size drum. Wow! What a sweet low smooth sound.
I like your Incra Ibox and angle guide. Nex time try a caul under your clamps. Good video.
My son plays percussion and will be getting one of these. Great job.
I'm completely gobsmacked. That is phenomenal!
I can virtually guarantee that the only wood that matters is the top surface. I would further bet that finding the optimum thickness of the top is more important that what it is made of. I base my comments on my knowledge of guitar-making.
Jack Gamboa i agree... i think he made to top board wayy to thick... the thinner the wood , the more resonance and movement of the tounges...
In my experience you guys are both right! I have found no change in sound when making the sides of the box out of plywood instead of maple and some major improvements when using thinner wood for the top when making smaller tongues. However for a large drum 3/4" wood can resonate nicely.
You guys must have never heard of drums eh? All the woods involved play a role. But yes it was way too thick and I think shaving them down lengthwise evenly rather than drilling is the tech.
Also, consider stabilzing the parts in an epoxy resin in a pressure-pot or vacuum chamber. Also, some addition of pieces in the interior to create bounce for the sound waves for better accoustics, even if just some quarter rounds or angle bevels in all of the interior corners to soften the inside angles would help with resonance too. Accoustics can play a big role even in such a small resonance chamber.
You did a very beautiful work. But to be honest I think it actually looks more beautiful than it sounds.
Great looking quality there's couple other tubers who did few other woods but this tubers looks great 🤗
I like your background music. I feel like I'm playing an old Liesure Suit Larry game.
This makes me want to go to Chicago
This was a fascinating process and you did a great job beautiful pieces
Beautiful workmanship
Thank you!
Dude your awesome man. Awesome build. Very talented with wood working
Looks quite nice, but the top should be thinner for something this small. By using a thinner top, it would greatly increase the resonance of the notes, so they're not as dull. Having the tongues be slightly more regular in shape would help too
Thanks, Nick. I haven't had a chance to make any more of these, but I do intend to when I can find the time. I will definitely try your suggestions to see if they make any improvements. I really appreciate the feedback!
Just a FYI: be aware of where your cocobolo is from, depending where it originated it can be toxic, same for a few other woods. Just certain kinds you don't want to inhale the dust or may want to use caution. Happy woodworking!
I love the happy busy house wife music 😝
Very nice. I really think that you should make another with more planning like you said.
Thanks -- I definitely want to try making some more of these when I find the time. I will incorporate the feedback that I have received through the comments, both for making the tongue drum and for improving the sound quality of my videos.
Nice kids. Cool music boxes.
I am going to make one and use your advice on calculating tongue length for approximate tone. Nice boxes!
Awesome video, thanks. BTW I think the microphone recorded with noise cancellation, so it's hard in the recording to hear the analog sound and "attack" of each note one would hear in person.
Congratulations for your good work ! What kind of wood is the best to have a good resonance?
Thank you I watched and I will make my own sticks! Super cool!
Very nice woodwork but the sound is almost bad.
I assure you it was a crappy mic, these tongue drums are awesome but the Padauk top is the key
Not the mic, the compressor
It looks like the cocobolo box has a brighter sound, whereas the Padauk is more dark. Generally, if you want to make nice and professional sounding music, darker sound is preferred. Beautiful, though! Very good work!
The pitch of each tung can be adjusted after cutting. By removing material at the base of the tung or the tip, you can raise or lower its pitch. This is typically done with a drill bit. Have the bottom removable to do this, or wait to attach it after you've tuned the drum.
Maybe consider some interior blocking for acoustic bounce. 45° blocking on the inside 90° corners, some sine wave blocking under the low notes, etc... could be a real game changer to the resonance of the instrument. Also, consider tuning by planing the tongues instead of drilling relief holes. Should affore better resonance than the drilling. A tongue depressor has better sound than a 2x4, type of idea. Thinner makes better tone quality. Think xylophone, not marimba, these are smaller tongues. If your making a 2' x 4' tongue drum, 1/2" would be a great thickness to shoot for, but on this smaller scale, maybe between 1/8" and 1/4" and then tuned by plane or scraper on the inside? Just some friendly input from a guy who grew up with a concert pianist dad (surrounded by music all the time).
Thank you very much for the constructive ideas. I've received a lot of feedback from viewers and I'll add yours to the list of suggestions that I'll incorporate into the next tongue drum that I make. I look forward to making one as soon as I find the time so I can release a video with a much better result.
They will the "fingers" like those on a propane tank and they are called "Hang Drum" and they play them with their fingers. Nice job. Where I live it has gotten very hard to get exotic woods anymore. There are NO private lumberyards anymore. So I have to order it and pay out the ying yang.
Tuning is an enormous challenge. It sounds like Michael Thiele, founder of Hardwood Music Company has been around the block but I don't know whether he takes students. Just a thought . . . .
Fascinating ! I think this is really cool. You do an outstanding job in my opinion.
Thank you!
Very cool, great makes and techniques - thanks for sharing!
Thank you!
Beautiful work. I will definitely try this. I don't have all of your equipment, but I do have a jigsaw.
should make a cocobolo box with the padail sound board it would look amazing and you could potentially tune it really nice
if you make one please post a video i bet it would be great! anyhow great video and great work on the boxes they look really nice!
Beautiful work . Thanks . Have you thought of adding a drum pickup with a small amp ? That would greatly enhance the sound .
They have a really intresting reverb to them.
There is a relationship between the main frequency emitted and the volume (cubage) of resonant chamber were the sound is reinforced, amplified...See the loudspeakers cabinet. Try to build the top at first, check out the frequency and then calculate the volume of the box...
www.ggsound.it/program/PerfectBoxTrial_Setup.exe
Good advice. When I make MINE I'll make the tongues first. Then calculate the frequency and see if I want to further tune the tongue. Then based on the wavelengths of each note I'll figure out what the optimal chamber size would be.
Very cool, and fun to watch.
Thanks, Robert. Glad you enjoyed it!
I wood love to have awesome tools like yours but I lackor the talent to make even basic wood work. Mine would end up in the key of 'H'. I enjoy vids like this and I'm slowly growing more confident to try a few things
Played a number of tongue drums and found that there always seemed to be at least one tongue whose tone was off. The fundamental note was there however the resonance of one tongue never seemed to match up with the others. Too bad as I really like the sound the box produces. This doesn't seem to occur as often with the wood marimbas I own. I have a great tongue drum and it too has a problem with one tongue. Hope fully I'll find one some day where all the tongues are in harmony with the others. I just stay away from that tongue when playing it...Thanks!
Great project but the top needs to be way thinner than that. Also, you need a big hole in one of the sides, like a guitar, for the sound to escape. It will sound 1000x better. That being said, they do look amazing.
Very interesting experiment sir. Thank you
Orkin guy just arrived termites will have a feast on the African drum 🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜
Just found your channel. If you can spring for it I would recommend a zoom H4n recorder/mic. It will give you the option of using other microphones down the road if you want and the on board stereo x/y mics sound really good. If you are using a camera with a mic input it's easy to run a small stereo to stereo 3.5mm cord from the H4n to the camera.
The blue mic you own is geared towards pod casting aka your voice. Unless you plan to sit in front of a computer doing talking videos or voice overs I would recommend ditching it for the above and a lav mic (a lav mic will kill a lot of the room sound you're getting in the video, plus IMO the room remover thing you are using sounds odd to me or maybe it's the room you are doing the voice over in, I don't know).
The wood whisperer uses a lav mic if you want to see how that looks/sounds.
My .02 cents. I liked the build although it's above my head and I still have no idea where the heck to get exotic wood in my area but you got yourself another sub.
I really appreciate the time you spent to provide some constructive feedback. I will definitely take all of your recommendations into consideration. I actually did use a lav mic for the introduction and it has improved things a lot compared to when I only had the camera's built-in mic. I'll check out the Zoom H4n and see if it makes sense for my situation. Thanks, again, and thanks for the sub! -- Mike
Also, just found your channel. Great stuff! And beautifull tongue drums!
A Zoom H4n will certainly help you! The sound in the playing test was not good enough...
Definitely sounds different 😂👍🥁🇬🇧
It would resonate a lot better if you added a block of wood on the inside right at the end of your cuts. It shoulbe the same size as the interior measurement of the box ends. It will eliminate all that harshness.
You did an awesome job. Im inspired to build one.
Thanks!
No cause I don’t understand tuning but enjoyed watching your video.thanks
The boxes look fantastic! Cheers from Ontario
Thanks! Ontario, Canada or Ontario, California?
Ontario Canada
Nice! That's where I grew up, but now I'm in Virginia.
Those are some sweet camera changes
Desde Argentina !!! Que espesor tienen las tapas de Cocobolo y Padauk ?? Aca no se consigue esa madera, estoy probando con maderas duras (incienso, lapacho) despues les cuento. Saludos y gracias por el video.
Very nice Instruction. Thank You.
Oh my a new favorite channel
Yes I wood make some! I have about 75 board ft of Jacaranda Rosewood
Awesome job, Mike! Notice any difference in the tones once you put finish on? Or when you drilled the mallet holes? Great experiment too, very nicely done!
Both good questions! I was wondering if the holes in the end would affect the sound, but I couldn't really detect anything, so I would say that they didn't have an impact. I'm less sure about the finish because I wasn't really paying attention to the before and after sound. The finish "might" have improved the sound, or it could just be me. They seem to sound better each time I play them. haha!
I have a piece of iron wood that I'm thinking would be very interesting to experiment on with a project like this. But by the sound of it, the harder the wood the more difficult it is to tune. I guess that means I'll have to be pretty careful when measuring out the tongues.
I'm thinking that it's the hardness that made it so hard to tune, but I'm not sure if that's the real cause. If that's true, given that ironwood is even harder than cocobolo, I think it would be worth the time to measure the tongues to get the pitch close to where you want it to be.
with the coco the sticks are still in them so the sound should change too but I don't know much about finding the correct pitch but it's nice
Those are beautiful
I have never heard of this instrument, and as such don't know what it's supposed to sound like, but I think I prefer the look and sound of the padauk drum more than the cocobolo.
Wonder if some experimental cup and ridge sanding making the meat of the tongues thinner and the joint thicker on the back side of the tongues would improve the sound resonance and sustain?
It's called a "teponaztli".
Yeah, some people call it a "tone drum" -- but that's kind of like calling a piano a "string box". :)
Doesn't matter what you make the sides and bottom out of, it's the top that produces the tone.
I would not glue the tops; a solid plank is best. Shouldn't paint the tone wood, either, or if you're going to do that, paint first, /then/ tune.
The problem with the sound is because the microphone isnt picking up all the tones its trying to mute because its overloading the mic it mutes so it does not to hurt the listeners ears. Its like how some people cannot hear you properly over their cell phones background noise is loud so it mutes the voice and it comes through normal then it slowly dies off as their speaking.
I like the smile of that girl at the end.
cool video, really cool building process.
The cocobolo sounds like it has more harmonics in the tone. Hard to tell from the intensely compressed mic signal.