drum tracking question

nate_dennis

nate_dennis

Well-known member
Hey everyone. I am completely new to the idea of drum recording. I looked through this forum and didn't see a thread related to this question so I hope I'm not being redundant.

What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the following approach to tracking drums?

Mic'ing a full kit and running it through mixer and sending a stereo out to an analog mulit-tracker? The issue for me is if I only have eight tracks to work with and need two to bounce to I'm eating up a lot of tracks just on drums if I used all of the mics. I have also thought about using busses and puting the kick on one track, the snare on one track and then putting the overhead AND the toms on a track together. Any ideas? I know this is probably really fundamental stuff so forgive me. Thanks in advance.
 
nate_dennis said:
Hey everyone. I am completely new to the idea of drum recording. I looked through this forum and didn't see a thread related to this question so I hope I'm not being redundant.

What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the following approach to tracking drums?

Mic'ing a full kit and running it through mixer and sending a stereo out to an analog mulit-tracker? The issue for me is if I only have eight tracks to work with and need two to bounce to I'm eating up a lot of tracks just on drums if I used all of the mics. I have also thought about using busses and puting the kick on one track, the snare on one track and then putting the overhead AND the toms on a track together. Any ideas? I know this is probably really fundamental stuff so forgive me. Thanks in advance.
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If in your situation, I'd use 4 tracks: kick & snare on their own tracks stereo mix of everything else to the other 2 tracks.
 
That's how I used to do it when I was in that situation. The kick and snare are things that you really need to have control over, so having them separate is a good idea. It's also OK to go with mono overhead and toms if you need the extra track.
 
+1 to these suggestions. I've heard amazing mixes from just kick, snare, and two overheads, so with the toms in the overhead bus, it should sound even better.
 
interesting idea. should i keep the two overheads panned sperately and still use two tracks or could I use two mics to get more sound and send them to one buss? Thanks a lot for all the help guys!!
 
i've had pretty decent luck with sending the kick to one track and EVERYTHING else to another since i can only do two tracks at a time. however, it might just be me since my kicks always seem to get buried in the mix. if you can do more tracks at a time though, go with their suggestions most definitely! :)
 
If you are doing mono overheads, just use one mic. The only point to having two of them is for stereo. You are just inviting phase problems if you have two overheads bussed to one track.
 
So if I did a 57 on the snare what would you reccomend for a one overhead mic, and what's a good one for the kick?
 
I like SDC's for overheads, but and LDC would work too.

I like a D112 on the kick. But that changes with my mood. I also use a Beta 52 on kick. It all depends. Sometimes, I even use a 421 inside and an LDC in front of the drum. I can make all of these work, it just depends on my mood when I am tracking and/or the actual sound of the kick.
 
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