Hi, welcome to the “Percussionist in the studio” section, that is my percussion recording journal in which I keep track of some of the diverse recording gigs I make in my studio.

Today I´m going to show you a recording that I made for bass player from Argentina, Ruben in which I recorded some congas.

In the video above, you can watch the step by step of what I recorded and the final result of that percussion recording session.

Percussion Recording process

So, the song I have to record is a Jazz Song, and Ruben asked me to record some congas in it to give the song a latin color.

So following that I recorded a marcha or tumbado rhythm on congas, but in a eighth notes triplets feel to match the groove and feeling of the song.

As I always say when you record a Jazz song you has to be more open to let ideas flow and most important of all you must have your ears really open because one of the main element of jazz is constant improvisation. So what you´re going to play along the song is going to come from the feedback of the others musicians. 

Along the song I had to record along sevceral solos: bass, guitar and sax, that required an specific playing approach for each.

Go to the video if you want to watch in detail the step by step of the recording.

Thanks for visiting this post.

I hope you found it fun and entretaining.

Facundo Alvarez