Recording Drums For First Time - Where do I start?

[colish_04]

Hey guys, I'm in great need of your expert help. I've been drumming for awhile now but this recording stuff is pretty new to me. First off, I'll tell you about my setup:

1) The Kit - 4 piece ludwig rocker (22" bass, 16" floor, 12" tom -- all with pinstripe heads)
- 14" yamaha beech custom snare (fyberskin 3 FA batter head)
- 14" B8 hats, 16" B8 pro medium crash, 14" B8 thin crash, 20" B8 pro medium ride, 22" HH Manhattan ride

2) The Mics - superlux pra 218A (bass), pra 228A (floor and mid), pra 268AH (overheads)
- shure SM57 (snare)

3) The recorder - tascam 788 digital portastudio


Now I know the first thing that you'll want to tell me is "buy better equipment you cheap bastard." The truth is, I've spent a lot of time on every little detail of this set and I'm very happy with the sound I get out of it. Second, I'm a university student with no money, so going out and buying stuff is a last resort.

What I'd like to know is, what can I do to make my recordings sound better using the equipment I have? I've tried recording without doing any eq'ing or effects and everything seems to sound really dull. I guess I could fool around with the gate, compressor, or whatever the other things are called but I don't even know what they do! If you guys could just give me some guidelines as to what I can do when it comes to the mixing and mastering stuff, it would be greatly appreciated (or just refer me to some book if that's easier).

*P.S. if anyone has the same portastudio, can u confirm my suspicion that it doesn't have phantom power and that's the reason my condensor's aren't working?

[Rimshot]

Your question is a vaste one. You are essentially asking for a complete course in recording and there's way too much information to be included in any response.
Start with one thing at a time. Try going to the "search" option on this board and you will find that most of your questions have already been answered....a lot.
There have been web-sites posted here and complete descriptions of how to effectively mic a drum kit. There are threads on all of the different mics, pre-amps, mixers, stand alone recorders, hard drive recorders, room treatment and studio building, you name it.
It is easy to get overwhelmed
by all of the information. Try taking one step at a time, finding one thing you would like to improve, work,on it and read up on it, try things out and when you have sort of solved it, go to your next problem.
Soon, you'll find that you have gained a lot of experience and your recording has improved.
It is a long and arduous process and you will constantly be learning more no matter how much you learn.
That's the only answer I can give to your post.

[jdier]

personally I would suggest getting one more mic and I would make it match one of your others (like another sm57.) Then I would use those mics as overheads, concentrate on getting the best sound you can with just those two mics then add in others as spotlights, or to fill in voids.

If you cannot buy another 57 perhaps you could borrow one.

[colish_04]

Can anyone give me any sites where I can learn about the digital mixing aspect of recording drums?
If not that, then maybe some names of books; I like books.

[VTgreen81]

These are some basic EQ suggestions for drums, Haven't even tried this myself yet but if you want you can let me know if it works.

Snare:

+2 dB @ 100Hz
Roll off 300 - 700 Hz to eliminate "boxy" sound
+2 to +6 dB @ 5, 8, or 10kHz to brighten the top end

Toms:

+2 @ 100Hz
-4 @ 300-700Hz
+2 @ 5k or up

Kick/Bass:

<+2 @ 60 or 100Hz
Roll off 300 - 700Hz
for more attack boost 1k to 3k

Overheads:

Use roll off switch or high pass filter or -10 dB @ 30-60Hz
Use just a smidge @ 8 or 10k to add brightness if needed.


And to anyone who REALLY knows what they're doing, ......Does this sound like a sensible place to start?

[Blue Bear Sound]

Mixing Article --> Mixing 101

Drum Recording Article --> 9 Tracks In 2 Days

EQ Article --> EQ? When?? How???

[VTgreen81]

Thanks Bruce, as always, informative and insightful.