Bandoneon

What it is

The German-made bisonoric concertina of tango, also written bandoneón or bandonion; devised by Heinrich Band and now tied to Argentine and Uruguayan tango. Related to but different from the English concertina: each button gives a different note pushing and pulling, and there are no register switches.^13,14

Range

C2 to B6^11,1265.4 Hz – 1.98 kHz

142-tone rheinische system; one source gives A6 at the top

The sound

Bellows air crosses reeds, with more than one reed per button, tuned an octave apart ("dry", with no vibrato beat). The left-hand box is a wooden box with a muted, nasal timbre; the right-hand sound is brighter and sharper.¹³

Where the sound goes

Sound comes from both boxes and the bellows move as with a concertina; no radiation measurement found. The sample-library session below gave the left box (bass), the right box and the room separate mics. Different notes leave through different sound holes, so a mic on one hole favours some notes. A mic at the centre hears mostly the bellows.^1,7,5

About the range

The standard Argentine instrument is the 71-button, 142-tone rheinische system. One source says it is continuously chromatic from C to a''' (Helmholtz), which is C2 to A6; another gives C2 (left hand) to B6 (right hand), nearly five octaves. The two disagree by one note at the top; the conversion in the first is mine.^11,12

Recording it

• One mic each side: the classic setup in studio, live and broadcast, perpendicular to the keyboard; good isolation, but not true stereo. Pan each mic only a little. Forum engineers: dynamics or ribbons 1-3 ft back on each side, aimed just above the keys (MD 421 pair; Royer R-121 or R-122 pair; MD 409/609, e906, SM7, RE20 also named).
• Pairs: XY overhead for the player's perspective, ORTF in front for the audience's, a spaced pair for three or more bandoneons. A spaced pair of KM 84s or a U 67 about 6 ft away keeps the mechanical noise down; a U 47 and a Royer R-122 gave good results; an AT4047/SV sounded best in one player's price range.
• Ensembles: room mics carried the bandoneon's balance on a tango record.
• A sample-library session by Guillermo Guareschi in Buenos Aires used a Neumann on the left hand, a ribbon mic for very low frequencies, a modified SE A5600 II tube mic on the right hand and an AKG for the ambience of a high-roofed room, all into vintage Telefunken preamps. Models of the Neumann, ribbon and AKG are not given. Recording Magazine's concertina advice (a pair in front) does not mention the bandoneon.^{2,6,5,4,3,1,15}

Mics i

No mic is named by more than one source yet: each names its own.

On stage

• Clip-on mics keep the distance fixed; younger players use them, older players work a stand mic as part of their dynamics. Sound engineer Remi Bourcereau used DPA d:vote 4099 clip mics on Richard Galliano's accordion and bandoneon, held with magnetic piano holders and scratch tape on the clips (a DPA press piece). Myers sells two- and three-mic clip sets, treble grille plus bass side.
• Gabriel Szkuhra, who teaches live sound in Argentina: one dynamic each side of the bellows is the classic setup, but prone to feedback; a mic that takes the bandoneon too "softly" makes it sound like an accordion. For more gain, AKG C419 clips on a small plate held by the instrument's own screws; for the most, Shure Beta 98 capsules taped over chosen sound holes, at some cost to the sound.^2,9,8,7

Problems to watch

Mechanical (key and bellows) noise: a pair of small condensers reveals it, a ribbon or tube large condenser hides it, distance helps; a centre mic gets "nothing but bellow noise"; feedback with stand mics on stage; a single stand mic cannot catch both boxes evenly; phase cancellation when the side pair is summed to mono.^5,7,8,2