DRUM! MAGAZINE JIM DONOVAN SIGNATURE DJEMBE REVIEW
Delicious Djembes & Cool Cajons
In recent years, the name Jim Donovan has become synonymous with community drumming, drum circles, and an instructional program called The Interactive Drumming Experience. Many people think of him as the heartbeat of the acclaimed jam band Rusted Root. We can now equate his name to the newest line of djembes from Everyone’s Drumming.
For this latest addition to their product line, the company and Donovan teamed up to create a pair of djembes that are not only accessible to students, but have the consistency and sound that professionals will appreciate.
Out Of The Box. The Donovan djembes are available in two sizes: 12" x 20" and 14" x 24". The shells are made out of Vermont maple with stave construction, and are treated with a rosewood stain and four coats of polyurethane clear coat. The lower half of the shell features a handsome Everyone’s Drumming logo with Donovan’s signature burnt into the shell’s surface. Each drum also comes with a tuning tool, and a play-along CD featuring some traditional grooves.
The djembes feature rope tuning with a minimized version of the company’s famous “Cinch” tuning system, which offers a quick way of tensioning heads by pulling a series of rope ends up (to loosen the head) or down (to tighten), using a T-handled tool.
The principle is based on a standard djembe’s rope-tuning system, but rather than having one continuous piece of rope that needs to be woven through itself to add tension, Everyone’s Drumming has split the system into individual tension points. It looks like a traditionally-tied rope-tuned drum at first glance, but interestingly, the tension points that connect the top and bottom hoops are independent from each other. Each tension point has a
short tail of rope with a knot at the end of it. Going around the perimeter of the drum to pull each knot
takes about a minute and a half to create a noticeable pitch change in the drum, which is then simply held in tune by friction. The whole system is tied with a low stretch, 5-mil static weave black nylon rope.
For this series, the company has eliminated the tuning tool’s large wooden ball that helps its ability to grab each rope end. Instead, they’ve narrowed the tuning tool’s hook, which grabs the knot at the end of the rope. This aids the appearance of the drum, makes the drum more comfortable to hold in certain situations, and eliminates
some unnecessary parts that could eventually fail.
Materials And Sound.
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The Vermont based company takes much pride in the materials they use. It’s common knowledge that maple is plentiful in that part of the country. After all, it’s the Northeast that makes our pancakes so tasty – but maple for a djembe? (Well that’s initially what I thought.) Two things immediately put my mind at ease: the drums’ light weight and huge sound. Not only is maple significantly lighter than most indigenous African woods, but its tonal characteristics also proved to be the perfect solution for a very versatile sound. Donovan djembe bass tones were extremely loud and full, and open tones/slaps were isolated and crisp. Coaxing tones out of the calfskin heads (which were very consistent) was a snap; often thinner animal-skin heads can have horrible overtones due to the slightest inconsistencies in thickness. Not an issue here.
Even without any tugging on the Cinch tuning, the drums have the projection and clarity needed to survive in any situation, speak with a traditional accent, and feature clean and separated tones that are surprisingly versatile. (Let’s face it, how many current djembe players actually use their drums primarily for traditional music?) The consistency in sound between the two drums is also impressive – they complement each other perfectly. Bass tones are almost a perfect fourth from each other and open tones can be easily tuned to any interval. Although these drums aren’t made from a hollowed-out log that has fallen into a watering hole, and hand-carved by a
Senegalese master craftsman, they’re round, easy to manage, and consistent. These, quite possibly, could be some of the best sounding domestic djembes I’ve had the pleasure of playing.
Studio Test. All of the drums were tested at a world-fusion-jazz recording session, featuring traditional influences of Middle Eastern, African, and Latin rhythms. Both the Donovan djembes and the Djembe Cajons were easily reproduced on the recording with just one high quality condenser mike each and a flat EQ setting – a rarity for djembes, as most engineers prefer to mike bass tones and high tones separately from each other on opposite ends of the drum. The amount of tone coming out of the tops of these drums was more than sufficient to get the message across for the band’s sound.
On one particular track, a second mike was added to the bottom of the smaller Djembe Cajon to free up some EQ-ing options for the top mike. Trying to brighten the slaps in this situation seemed to diminish the bass tone slightly on the recording. The two Donovan djembes were recorded together with contrapuntal parts, as were all of the Djembe Cajons, and everything sounded incredible.
The Verdict. All in all, Jim Donovan’s jam band roots have helped create an unbeatable pair of djembes, suitable for all applications. And as a new twist, the Djembe Cajons offer a high-end sound and some great engineering to what is traditionally a makeshift instrument.
Everyone’s Drumming has succeeded again in offering some new options to an everchanging percussion world. Musicians are demanding some new voices and Everyone’s Drumming is talking.
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