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Using readily available items such as tables,
boxes, drawers and utensils has been a traditional part of music culture
for centuries. At times, such as the those endured by West Africans forced
into slavery, it was necessary to disguise these percussive instruments
in order to prevent intimidating their enslavers. A convenient item available
at the time was a cod fish shipping crate. It appeared to be nothing more
than a seat, yet with some alterations was made to produce a wide variety
of percussive sounds by slapping various parts of the box, whilst seated.
The concept evolved over time to became a mainstream part of Cuban and
Peruvian music, spreading in popularity to Africa and Europe, and of recent
times into Flamenco music.
Today the cajon, or "box" drum, is known for it's rich earthy
tones and a surprisingly wide dynamic range, from cracking high's down
to rumbling lows.
The Woodskin Cajon has been designed with
five mandates in mind.
. Richness and depth of the bass register or "bottom end".
. Clear and pure middle and upper registers.
. Aesthetic beauty, and fine handcrafted quality.
. Playing comfort.
. To be adaptable to a wide variety of musical genres.
Each Woodskin Cajon is personally designed and hand
crafted by Mark
Aspland, a percussionist, instrument maker and engineer, with
over thirty years experience with a vast array of drums and drumming styles.
These include Tabla, Djembe, Darabouka, Conga, Bongo, Drum kit, and many
other forms of hand percussion.
The Woodskin Cajon has been designed to
be a welcome addition to a wide variety of musical genre's.
In general, animal or resin skinned hand drums exhibit a note, or range
of notes associated with their sound. These percussive notes can become
identifiable with a particular musical genre.
Wooden skin drums however, when designed properly, deliver more percussion
and less note, making them less identifiable to a particular genre and
more universally adaptable to vastly different musical styles. Each Woodskin
Cajon has been engineered to take advantage of this phenomena and further
enhance it.
The quality of the resultant sound becomes a product of a carefully selected
number of components of each Woodskin Cajon, these include internal construction,
timber stock, external shaping, and finishing materials. Mechanical filtering
is even employed to target the desired sound scape.
In order to further expand on the adaptability
of The Woodskin Cajon it has been designed as a foundation unit upon which
a growing number of effects can be added. These effects form part of the
instrument, and, as with the foundation unit, are all acoustic, percussive
devices.
1. Snare
Each Woodskin Cajon comes with a removable
snare, or rattle, effect. This can be applied, or removed at any time,
silently and seamlessly, even whilst playing. The snare unit itself can
be played for an even sharper snare drum sound, whilst still maintaining
the foundation unit's tones.
2. Crack
The optional Crack effect provides a very sharp and punctuating sound
similar to a rim shot. As with all Woodskin effects it can be applied
or removed at any time, seamlessly and silently, even whilst playing.
3. Tamhat
The optional Tamhat provides a sharp, rapidly decaying sound. A bit like
a closed hi-hat/tambourine strike.
As with all Cajon's The Woodskin Cajon is an acoustic unit. However the
incredible natural sounds offered by the unit respond very well to amplification.
Any of the following three microphone configurations work well.
1. An instrument or vocal mic aimed at the face, and one at the rear sound
hole.
2. A single instrument or vocal mic aimed just at the face.
3. A PZM style piezoelectric mic placed internally.
©2003 Woodskin. All rights reserved. No part of this web site
may be reproduced or transmitted without prior permission. Woodskin cannot
be held liable for any material rendered unusable, or for any form of
consequential loss. The descriptions specifications and other claims made
with respect to the products featured on this web site are made from the
last update (10/11/03). Woodskin retains the right to discontinue production
of or make improvements or other changes to any of its products without
notice. Product packaging and other product literature should be consulted
for current descriptions specifications and other claims relating to Woodskin
products. Improvements or other changes to products shall not obligate
Woodskin to make corresponding improvements or changes to products previously
manufactured or sold.
®All Trademarks Acknowledged.
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