Shamisen
Japanese three-string lute
- Sources
- 44 independent: not from a mic maker
What it is
Three-string Japanese lute with a long fretless neck and a small drum-like body (dou) with skin front and back. Played with a large plectrum (bachi). The lowest string sits low on the nut to make a buzz called sawari (Wikipedia). Three neck sizes: hosozao, chuzao, futozao.
Where the sound goes
The front skin is the resonating part. A forum expert: a mic or pickup on the back skin "won't work effectively", though back pickups add warmth in a studio.
About the range
Tuned to the singer. Honchoshi is C-F-C (Wikipedia). No absolute range sourced.
How loud
Sound pressure level measurements as published. Different kinds of figure (a playing level, a peak, a dose at the player's ear) can't be compared with each other, and neither can figures at different distances.
| Sound power | |
|---|---|
| 82–88 dB | sound power level Lw, no distance; shamisen (三味線), one player, a softer piece about 82 dB and a louder piece about 88 dB5 |
A Japanese sound power study measured one shamisen at about 82 dB for a softer piece and 88 dB for a louder one; no level at a distance found. The bachi strike is percussive.
Recording it
The Bachido community mostly recommends a mic over a pickup for recording, a pickup for live. Contact options: AKG C 411 L on the front skin, a piezo disc between skin and bridge or taped to the skin, K&K Banjo Twin. Impact Soundworks recorded jiuta-style shamisen with the same MC 834, TLM 170 and two KM 184 as the koto. Clip-on mics inside the dou are fiddly and prone to feedback (search summary).
Mics
- 4 setups from 4 sources, 4 of them independent of any mic maker.
- On top: the mics more than one source names for this instrument, in any role, the most named first. That is a count of sources, not our verdict.
- In the full list, each mic shows how many sources name it for that role, and how many of those come from a mic maker.
No mic is named by more than one source yet: each names its own.
All the mics sources name, by setting and role (2)
Studio and stage
Contact
- AKG C 411 L1 source
The 2 setups behind this: placement and quotes
- Contact AKG C 411 Lstuck on the front skin of the dou
"Your microphone needs to be on the resonating part of the dou, the front skin." Back skin gives little.
1 - Contact piezo disc pickup between skin and bridge (koma), or taped to skincontact, on the skin
A piezo taped to the skin "works great for both live and recording" (forum post).
2
Studio
The 2 setups behind this: placement and quotes
- Named, no placement given microphone preferred over pickup for recordingstudio mic
Joel_Balestra: "I'd recommend a mic over a piezo pickup for recording"; pickups convenient live.
3 - Close 2 × Neumann KM 184close and room stereo
Koto, bass koto and shamisen (jiuta style) recorded with MC834, TLM-170 and two KM-184, close and room.
4
Sources
- Bachido community: Another microphone related thread (shamisen)
- Bachido community: Electronic Shamisen For Live Performances
- Bachido community: Recording (shamisen)
- Impact Soundworks: Koto Nation (developer's recording notes)
- Noise Control (騒音制御) 20(1): Shiga and Ezawa, 各種楽器の音響パワーレベル (Sound Power Levels of Musical Instruments), pp. 29-33