Looking for suggestions for a simple beginner's setup

N

Noisemakers

New member
I've been wanting to make drum cover videos for years. But between being away at college (Stuck on an electric set) a few thousand miles away from home, I have not been able to. But I'm finally going to commit this summer. In the past, I've been set on getting individual mics for all my drums and going all out with equipment, but I realize it's probably not the smartest option right now.

I'm committed to just going simple - I've read to just start out with overheads. My budget is about $400-$500 for this initial buy (Mics, cables, interface, etc). I figure in the future, I can sell this equipment and get better equipment. So basically I'm just looking for some advice on what to get.

Should I just get two overheads? Considering my budget, what's my best option? Or should I get snare, kick, and two overheads? Or two overheads and a kick? I have a 5 piece set with 2 crash, 1 splash, 1 china, ride, and hat. Also, if I'm just going to have a few mics, what's a good interface to pair with the mics for my needs? I will strictly be using this equipment for drum covers for youtube.

I'm not a beginner drummer, but I'm a beginner when it comes to recording. Overall, I'm looking for something that will give me the best possible sound for my budget, while being fairly simple for me to get started with until I get a better handle on the whole thing and can dive in further.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hey man, welcome to the board :)

In terms of audio interface, the only extra bit of info that would be useful is 1) USB or Firewire? and 2) Do you plan to use more than four mics for drums in the future?

With that said, there are plenty of good 4 in', with mic preamps, audio interfaces. Unfortuntly as a UK chap i don't know what £ to $ rate so my apologies if these are outside your budget stateside, but the Tascam US-600 , Presonus Audiobox 44VSL or Akai EIE Pro are all reasonably priced and would serve you well.

In terms of mics, there's lots of different ways and means so it's worth experimenting but if you can get two overheads, a kick, and snare mic you'd be set. However, budget is always an issue (as you said) so in what order to buy & try becomes tougher to suggest. A kick and a pair of overheads can work really well, as can a kick, snare and one overhead, as can just one kick mic and one overhead. My personal suggestion would be to start with a pair of overheads and then add a kick mic when you can, or one overhead and a kick mic. The pitfall with one kick, one overhead may be that that buying a pair of overheads mics together as matched pair is usually slightly cheaper and, depending on the mic, a matched pair would sound almost identical whereas buying one then buying a second of the same mic may not sound identical (although with quality control as it is today on most decent mic manufacturers this shouldn't really be an issue)

Are there any mics in particular you've been looking at/thinking about? What kind of stuff do you play/plan to record?
 
In terms of USB vs Firewire, doesn't Firewire allow you to do more and individually mix each mic? I think I'd prefer Firewire, but I see the Presonus Audio Box 44VSL is USB 2.0. Will that accomplish the same things as a Firewire interface? Eventually, I'd like to have probably about 7-8 mics. What do you think about buying a referbished interface from ebay? Would you recommend I buy this from ebay? I'm seeing a refurbished Presonus Audio Box 44VSL on ebay for $275. What do you think?

I terms of mics, I'm leaning towards only one overhead and one kick because the kick doesn't come through that well with two overheads. And if I can fit it in my budget, maybe I'd even get a snare mic with that.

I have no specific mics in mind, but I've been looking at some Shure models. They are pretty expensive though. Would you have a reccomendation for good quality mics that are a bit less expensive than Shure? I have about a $500 budget, and if the interface runs me about $275, I have about $225 left over for mics, cables, and stands.

I plan to sart off just recording drum covers for youtube and messing around with recording in general. I play mostly rock, but a bit of everything. Love playing along to Bruce Hornsby, Sheryl Crow, Neville Brothers, Sting, John Mayer, etc. No heavy metal or anything.

Thanks for your input!
 
From your questions, you need to do some more reading, try the sticky threads at the top of this forum about computer recording. USB 2.0 and 3.0 allows multiple track recording.
You haven't mentioned a DAW in your budget, I'd suggest Reaper at only $60.
 
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