Instrument
Kalimba and mbira
Metal tines on a hardwood board, plucked with the thumbs. Mbira typically 22 to 28 keys in three registers; Hugh Tracey's commercial kalimba is tuned diatonically in G (Wikipedia). Shona mbira are played in a gourd resonator (deze) with bottle-cap buzzers.
Also called kalimba, mbira, thumb piano.
- Range
- B3–D6
- Sources
- 5 (5 independent)
Mics sources recommend
6 setups from 5 sources, 5 of them independent of any mic maker. Each mic shows how many sources name it for that role, and how many of those are independent. Listed alphabetically: there is no ranking.
Studio
Close
- AKG C 30001 independent source
- AKG C 4141 independent source
- Audio-Technica AT40411 independent source
- Neumann TLM 1021 independent source
- Oktava MK-0121 independent source
- Rode NT1-A1 independent source
Contact
- pickup + close mic + room mic (three channels per instrument)1 independent source
Named, no placement given
- MXL 9931 independent source
The 6 setups behind this: placement and quotes
- Close Neumann TLM 102close, studio sampling
Pan-Pot used a Neumann TLM 102; "any large diaphragm condenser microphone will work very well".
1 - Close Oktava MK-012close, 8 in above the tines (transients)
Front mic 8 in above the tines for transients; rear mic 6 in behind the sound holes for resonance.
2 - Close Rode NT1-A6 in behind the sound holes (resonance)
Front mic 8 in above the tines for transients; rear mic 6 in behind the sound holes for resonance.
2 - Close AKG C 414 or AKG C 3000 or Audio-Technica AT4041close, studio
Doug Fitch: good condensers such as an AKG 414 or AKG 3000, or cardioid AT 4041, capture kalimba well.
3 - Contact pickup + close mic + room mic (three channels per instrument)mbira: close, room and pickup
Three channels per instrument: pickup, close mic and room mic; tape buzzers facing the mics (paraphrase).
4 - Named, no placement given MXL 993close, home studio
Library recorded with an MXL993; author notes a quiet instrument and some white noise with many notes.
5
Range
B3 to D66247 Hz – 1.17 kHz
17-note Hugh Tracey treble in G; the source gives no octave numbers
Where the sound goes
The tines give inharmonic overtones strongest in the attack that die quickly, leaving "an almost pure tone" (Wikipedia). Doug Fitch: a mic picks up both the tine sound and the "wah" made by covering the central sound hole with the thumbs; a pickup captures body vibration only.
Recording it
Fitch: use a condenser in the studio, a pickup live because rooms and engineers struggle with a miked kalimba. A Hugging Face dataset used an Oktava MK-012 8 in above the tines plus an NT1-A 6 in behind the sound holes. Pan-Pot: a Neumann TLM 102, "any large diaphragm condenser". The matepe.org guide: three channels per instrument (pickup, close mic, room mic); pickups alone rarely sound good, but help with short noises. Buzzers dominate the mic and cover the tone: tape the buzzers on the side facing the mic. Hosho shakers should be kept away from directional mics.
About the range
The 17-note Hugh Tracey treble is in G, starting on the third (B) and rising about 2.5 octaves to D (Kalimba Magic); about B3 to D6 (estimate, the octave number is not given). Mbira dzavadzimu: 22 to 28 keys.
Names
Thumb piano, likembe, zanza, finger harp; mbira dzavadzimu (Shona), matepe, Hugh Tracey kalimba (commercial form).
Sources
- DJ TechTools: Pan-Pot interview, recording a kalimba
- Hugging Face: Harmonic-Frontier-Audio Kalimba_Preview dataset
- Kalimba Magic: Doug Fitch on using the Hugh Tracey Kalimbas
- matepe.org: Recording "Useza" (mbira recording guide)
- Pianobook: KALI-2297 Realistic Kalimba Library
- Kalimba Magic: Hugh Tracey Treble Kalimba