alesis 3630

If you were to buy a 3630, I would consider $100 pretty outrageous. I got mine on ebay for $35... and it was not quite worth every penny, because it's mainly spent its time as a heatsink, separating hot pieces of equipment in my rack.

I really like my DBX 166 (the old one, not the newer XL)... it's an 80's ish vintage, and a bit noisy, but really has some excellent characteristics for kick, snare, and DI bass.
 
Compression itself does not add punch. In the scenario you are trying right now it will probably kill punch.

I highly disagree with this. Don't forget adjusting those attack and release times.

I'd have to say the FIRST thing most engineers reach for to "punch" up a bass gtr track WOULD be a compressor. (and yeah, I know we are talking about drums in this post)

Yeah... a fast attack time will kill that transient.... back it off and let that thru... compress the rest.
 
I have several of the comps talked about here and regarding the 3630 (I dont have) but there is a simple mod you can do to the 3630 that gives it a better function, the mod is over on Tape-Op somewhere, sorry don't have the link.

First off the snare mic is good (SM57), bass drum mic could be better D112, Beta52 or EV RE20, punch is also referred to as a volume, the attack or in drums hit...adding compressors do increse volume control and control of peaks...imo they work, and I use a RNC on both snare and bass drum, I have a 160 I use for bass guitar, and a Dbx 166 mostly PA service. The RNC has 2 ins/outs thats what I use in mono, and never had a problem combining through two aux's on mixer. Why is the bass drum mic inside of the bass?

Getting a new set of drums is actually gonna set you back some, it will take time to get them broke in, tuned, stretched, and comfortable. I know when I get a new guitar it can take months to really get a feel for it and the sound.

Your recording chain is defintely what you want to improve on, microphones-> mic-pres-> room acoustics and capture. Compressors are just a tool, or added effect like reverb. Use 'em judiciously.
 
Bass guitar is affected by comps quite differently than kick drum thanks to its sustain. I have no problem at all geting big kick drum sounds without a compressor on the kick itself but on the 2 buss instead. Running a kick through an Alesis 3630 and adding any compression will probably result in a loss of low frequencies.
 
I highly disagree with this. Don't forget adjusting those attack and release times.

I'd have to say the FIRST thing most engineers reach for to "punch" up a bass gtr track WOULD be a compressor. (and yeah, I know we are talking about drums in this post)

Yeah... a fast attack time will kill that transient.... back it off and let that thru... compress the rest.

Compressors can be used to acentuate the punch, if it is there to begin with. You are shaping the envelope of the signal. If your snare has no punch to begin with, you can"t really get much out of a compressor. You can get some punch, but mostly more noise because you will have to boost the signal gain to exploit the comressor's action on the signal.

The most important thing is to have a good compressor, and the 3630 is not a good compressor.

Recording drums (or anything else) with a compresso totally depends on what you are looking for. If you don't have an idea as to the finished sound, leave it off. If you have an exact sound you are trying to achieve, record it.

The disadvantages to recording it are obvious, but the one advantage to recording it is you can get away with 1 or 2 compressors. Compressing at mixdown will necessitate many compressors (unless you compress the 2 buss).

Different people do different things. This is home recording and sometimes you have to work within your limits and be more creative than the pros.
 
I don't see anything in there that suggests the quality of the preamp doesn't matter :confused:

from the link:

"Apparently, to reproduce the sound of the drum accurately and maintain the transient (the initial strike) properly, it took 1000 watts of amplifier power.

The reason for this is that the transient, the very first few milliseconds, is VERY loud. The sound dies away quickly after that. So to reproduce the transient accurately, a lot of power is needed.

The problem now is that the transient is much louder than the 'body' of the sound, as the strike dies away.

If the transient therefore can be made quieter than the body of the sound, overall the strike will sound subjectively louder. Actually, 'louder' is probably not quite the right word for the subjective experience. 'Fuller' or 'more powerful' would be better."

so....

you're right in that preamps are not actually mentioned, but the point is, this disparity between the transient and the "body" of the sound causes a loss of that "body" in recording, which is where a compressor becomes desirable.

that's all i was getting at. the link didn't say, "if you're using cheap preamps, this happens." they're sayng, "when you record drums, this happens."

and again, thanks to everyone--you apparently have more energy for this than i do, because i'm frigging exhausted of it. in any case, i've taken all the advice here to heart, and my new plan is this:

1. treat my room.
2. set up and tune my new drums when they arrive.
3. upgrade my OHs to a pair of mxl 603s and my kick mic to an audix d6.
4. run all 4 mics directly to my 12-track and use its preamps and eliminate the mixer.
5. process each track individually.
6. upgrade preamps when i can afford it.

thanks again!
 
Oh, I get it--you meant that cheap preamps versus expensive preamps wouldn't affect the fact that the initial transient of the drum sound is much louder than the rest of the sound. Well, that is true, but I bet you would find that you'd still get a nicer sound with a more expensive preamp by virtue of the fact that a higher-class preamp will reproduce the quieter stuff better and more faithfully (as well as have a better signal-to-noise ratio) than a cheap one, and since the majority of the snare sound is quieter stuff that happens beyond the initial few milliseconds of attack, you'd get a much nicer tone. The quieter stuff will still be in the 'sweet spot' of the nicer preamp, whereas it will have fallen below the threshold of the cheapie's 'sweet spot'.
 
Oh, I get it--you meant that cheap preamps versus expensive preamps wouldn't affect the fact that the initial transient of the drum sound is much louder than the rest of the sound. Well, that is true, but I bet you would find that you'd still get a nicer sound with a more expensive preamp by virtue of the fact that a higher-class preamp will reproduce the quieter stuff better and more faithfully (as well as have a better signal-to-noise ratio) than a cheap one, and since the majority of the snare sound is quieter stuff that happens beyond the initial few milliseconds of attack, you'd get a much nicer tone. The quieter stuff will still be in the 'sweet spot' of the nicer preamp, whereas it will have fallen below the threshold of the cheapie's 'sweet spot'.

precisely. and of course a $1000 pre will just empirically sound better than one that's 10% that price. and this is the mindset that i have to get into. the whole reason i decided to drop the coin on a new drum set is that it's my primary instrument, and sound source rules above all. naturally, the signal path is what determines the quality from there. and it's like harvey said--

Right mics + right placement + good drums = good results.

and it's also why my new step #6 isn't "get a compressor," but "upgrade preamps."
:)

my priorities have simply changed since i posted this thread--gotta love this site!:D
 
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