ABAKISIMBA TROUPE - An LP recording with a 9 piece Kenyan percussion drum ensemble.  

Abakisimba Musical Troupe is an ensemble of percussionists, poets, musicians and dancers from different ethnic backgrounds. This, as well as their instrumentation, story, and compositions make them stand out; all their drums hail from various parts of Kenya, representing different tribes as a show of togetherness and anti tribalism in Kenya. 

Their original Kenyan percussions fused with other instruments and modern production techniques make it a rich and unique cultural fusion and apart from live performances, they are heavily involved in advocating the cultural diversity of Kenya to Kenyans and abroad. All these efforts and talent have massively influenced decisions on eco-tourism & cultural development.  

Ada Creatives Studio Is a new audio and visual studio with a dedicated rehearsal room for musicians, bands, e.t.c and a dedicated control room. Ada Creative Studios have in the past hosted a few number of artists and projects that are substantially contributing to the scene in general, they also provided all necessary equipment, time, and space to facilitate this project. 

For more information about Ada Creative and their upcoming releases (including this project), please follow the link. 

The LP recorded was to capture the repetitive, rhythmic and percussive sound AbakiSimba Troupe portray. Importantly for the best possible recording, we used a close microphone  technique on almost all (single) drums so as to capture the important transients of almost all sounds. 

The main microphones used were dynamic Shure series SM57, SM58 and a Shure PG52 for all mid and lower frequencies.  
We ventured with Condensor microphones (Behringer B1 & sE x1) for more overhead captures and instruments with higher frequencies were captured much better with the microphones mentioned above.