Recording/mixing Tambourine

Tricks to tambourine recording:
 
Recording environment: I make do with my bedroom which is not dead-quiet but doesn't sound fantastic either.
 
Pre-FX: Level adjustment: I find I need to use a fairly hot input level to pick up the subtlties of the instrument.
This in turn means standing back from the microphone, and least 2 or 3 feet.
 
Multi-tracking: I usually record in mono and take the two best takes and pan them left and right.
 
Post-FX: Compression: I need to add fairly aggressive compression to even out the sound. Tambourines always seem to have a very strong on-the-beat peak and then subtle off-beat jingles, at least that's my experience.
 
Post-FX: Reverb: I always add reverb, the amount depends on the needs of the track  but there's always some required to compensate for my room acoustics. Even if the recording space were entirely dead, then you'd definitely need some reverb to liven up the track.
 
(I forgot to add: My instrument is the full circle, wood kind. I don't have any experience with others. My playing technique is so awkward and clumsy that I use gardening gloves to protect my hands from blisters. Perhaps I should try a different instrument.)

Back away from the microphone and don't face it directly. It's not cheating to use two tambourines at once, even hitting them against one another.

I record tambo. It seems to be aggressive in the mic, so I back down on the pre-amp, and try to hit peaks around -12. Then mix it as appropriate.
 
In my latest, I doubled the snare hits in the song with a recorded tambourine, it's not "out there?" In fact, it's really intended to just enhance the snare, but I know sometimes you can shake it too (and I do) 
 
It's difficult to line it up sometimes, and a little off is ok? You should listen back to it and hear where you need to split and nudge it, and where you need to re-record. 
 
The latest with a live tambo (me playing and recording it)
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Old-Skool-Remix-1-9813-m2880906.aspx
 
I think it came out pretty nice :-) Then compress it appropriately so it doesn't spike too much, and maybe push the transients a little. Good luck. (Oh and I panned mine with the snare. In this song, it's subtle? More of an effect almost, but the tambourine is a critical component in lots of rock music.)
 
P.S., when I record a tambo part like this? I typically put the mic up here (holds hand up and away) and hold the tambo down here (holds hand down and away) and typically hold it with one hand and hit it with the palm of the other. This works best for me to be "on the beat." The shaking it part is trickier... And I typically need to comp it in to get the rhythm right. 

Live percussion is so awesome to use. You can really get into the grove once you learn how to embellish with simple instruments.

I did a latin song a while back using claves, castanets, and a guiro live. It was so much fun.

Make sure you stay an arms length from the mic as you don't want to overload or clip the signal.

Have fun.

Rimshot

Commenting on an old thread I know, but, because Bitflipper does point out that the tambourine loops and one shots are really slick in the going out of business sale, thought I'd tie to the two topics together.
 
Link to the thread on the sale:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Nine-Volt-Audio-going-out-of-business-m2931983.aspx