congaplace.com

Hello everyone
I came across a few congas that have been played outdoors in the sun for many years and it seems like they always sound warmer and have more projection. So my question is do congas that are played outdoors for many years take on a different sound than congas that are only played indoors many for years?
Thought I'd ask the pro's.
Thanks,
Apollo

I imagine that this would be a very difficult question to answer even for "The Pros" being that the drum can always be tunned to various tones.

Not a pro here, but I expect the only sure fire way to know would be to find two congas of the same model/skin etc bought about the same time and played under the two conditions described and see if it makes a difference ... or buy two and perform the experiment

Random thought ... not very helpful I'm afraid but interesting question.

This may be a perfect example....I had a lot of Matadors but this beat up pair was play hard for many years in the park, even the bottom had a little dry rot do to playing in the dirt and grass but sounded better than most of the Lp's I have had. In the end I ended up refinishing them plus mule skinned them just because they were uuugly.

Well there ya go, an actual example. I think you'd still have to compare a very close pair of drums (and factor some variables) to be scientific, but you may well have something.

Cheers

Darrell

Hi Apollo and All,

I'm a gigging percussionist in the Caribbean and believe that the inherent weathering of skins that are played outdoors definitely makes a difference in the sound.

Skin is skin when it comes to the basic characteristics. If you NEVER/ rarely went outside, your skin would be delicate, thinner, etc. Exposure leads to weathering through temperature/ humidity changes, dust, sunlight, etc. Imagine the skin of a lifelong recluse compared to a lifelong farmer...

I've had a few sets of drums with different heads that I've used indoors for time periods and then rotated back into gigs. I do A LOT of outdoor gigs here in Cayman.
Bringing them out, tuning according to the atmosphere, sweating more while playing, etc seem to give a bit of woodiness to the sound, which I like. I also notice a bit of a difference in projection, not an increase exactly but that all the sounds (tones, slaps, muffs, bass, etc) project more evenly. Also, weathering seems to make the slaps more "PLAK" and less "PING" which again relates to the woodiness and warmth. Its not just outdoor acoustics either, the changes translate to even the trickiest environments (like cement warehouses, playing live with Reggae DJs, and it still sounds warm!)

In fact, I have a kick around set of storm damaged congas that I reconditioned and the sound became so nice after playing them at jams for a while that one jazz band leader/ sax player I work with preferred their sound to my Gon Bops! Listening to recordings, I realized their sound did fit his music, but they lack the responsive play of the GBs or my Cuban Quinto, (which I need to refurbish- Cuban wood: GREAT! Cuban hardware: NOT SO GREAT!).

No matter what, take care of your heads- de-tune, a tad of palm oil or palm butter, careful with sticks, etc and even inexpensive heads can last years and sound nice! If you live anywhere similar to me (hot, humid, salty air) make SURE you use a bit of palm oil regularly or your skins will dry and may permanently lose their "song." The oil from your hands, if you play regularly, can condition your heads in more temperate climates but the salt air here is a killer!

Anyway, hope this helps somehow. Overall though, nice tone comes from the hands+heart+mind connection, even if you're playing a bucket!

One World _ One Music
Peace...