Most percussion instruments need some room. Skinned instruments need less room unless you want that tone. Shakers and Tambourines need some distance from the mic and better that the hits (the most forward motion of a shaker, for example) are not aimed at the mic. Often with these two instruments I’ll have the player stand 2 to 3 feet off the mix and play them sideways to the mic. Never have a shaker played into a mic like a knife in a bad 3D movie – no forward hit straight into the mic! With skinned percussion I prefer a large diaphragm condenser mic set off the head 5 or 6 inches, but lots of times I find 1 foot away with the mic looking over the front edge of the head.  With big low end percussion drums, get further off them with the mic.

When I mix percussion instruments generally I compress and then roll off everything under 75 Hz up to 250 Hz depending. I also boost the whole spectrum starting anywhere between 2 to 6K.  You’ll want a nice top without it being like a random punch thrown at your mix and not a lot of low end to clutter.