A few questions about recording drums for simple YouTube videos

Spenny91

New member
TL;DR What is the process for being able to record drums and mix the track as it plays on repeat using just my mixer? If this is even possible using only a mixer, I don't know lol.

Hey, I'm a little confused as to whether I'm doing this properly, so any advice is greatly appreciated!

I've got a Soundcraft EFX-8 mixer, with 2 overhead mics and a snare and bass mic going in XLR. What I've been doing is sending the raw drums through a cable that plugs into the mixer 1/4" jack (not sure if I've got this cable going into the right spot, what should it be?), and inputs into my camcorder as a 1/8" jack, where I then put the video on my PC, stick the audio in audacity and try to fix whatever I need there.

Now, this mixer has a whole slew of EQ and effects that sound pretty good, but is there any way I can record the drums somehow onto the mixer and play back the track and use the settings ON the mixer to switch the stuff? I don't have a laptop with good recording software that I can directly record the drums into, so I think this is why I'm hitting complications.

My question is basically the process for refining the sound in the recordings is really tedious, where-in I record the drums, change settings on the mixer and compare the two videos, so can I actually edit the sound as the track is playing back on repeat or something?

Sorry for this being long-winded, I just have no clue how to do audio stuff and I'm wondering whether I could be doing it way better. Thanks for any replies!!
 
No, the mixer you have is literally just a device to control multiple inputs. You would need to dial-in the EQ (and other effect) settings at the mixer and continue recording into something else like you have been.
 
Get an audio interface with at least 4 mic preamps, upgrade your DAW software to something like Reaper (which can also act as a video editor). Then record the audio to the DAW, video to your camcorder, export the video from it to the computer and do the work there.
 
If you are stuck with what you have, you need to spend time mixing your drums with the mics on the mixer, since, as mentioned, once you've captured that, it's pretty much done. You can adjust EQ, but it's better to get that sorted out first.

If the camcorder's 1/8 jack is stereo, you should be using the PAN controls on the mixer to send your drums across the stereo field in typical recorded settings, and send both the L and R master out to a stereo 1/8" plug. Practice that repeatedly until what you see in Audacity is not clipping and sounds Ok. Then you can play with EQ, compression and gain/normalization to get the sound more to a "recorded/radio" quality and level.

Otherwise go get a multichannel interface that will take your 4 mics and do it how most here would so you can mix the tracks on the computer. What you're doing is hard, though you'll be able to go and plug right into a PA with your own drumkit mic'd and mixed if you need to!
 
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