I don't normally record live drums however my new band wants to make some demo tracks and not all of us can pony up the 1000 buck for a real studio. I have stuff to record guitars and keys and even vocals but I'm a complete newbie to live drums. I was thinking of picking up 2 dmp3. we already have mics between us mostly 57's everything goes into my delta 10/10 then into cakewalk for tracking and mixing. Is the dmp3's what I need for this?
recording live drums
- Thread starter jasgav
- Start date
cavedog101
Well-known member
As in everthing audio, by using the unit within its parameters and not asking it to do something its incapable of, you can make very decent sounding recordings with anything. If your room is a bit iffy, then finding ways to tame some of the problems goes a long ways to making the sounds better.
One thing to consider. The drums will easily show the problems in a recording environment. Its up to you, as the engineer, to correct those either by mic placement, gain staging at the console or preamps, or by sound control within the space. I suspect that all of these will be necessary.
Your 57's will do a very good job on drums though I would recommend a kik drum specific mic. A decent condenser out in the room will give you some 'size' to the kit, but will also record all the anomolies your room might have. Close micing all the kit will somewhat eliminate these anomolies but not all.
Office barriers with heavy packing blankets draped over them and placed around the room as well as around the kit (not too close! dont want to choke the set) will go a long ways to focusing the sound. While this is not the ideal room treatment, it is a great and cheap way to help an empty practice room/basement/storage space achieve a decent sound.
The rest is up to you. Placement and experimentation are crucial to getting good drums. Also, the choice of heads, tuning (cant emphasize that enough), and the weight and size of the cymbals also will determine the ease at which to arrive at a good sound.
Live cymbals that cut through a dense on-stage sound arent alwyas good recording cymbals. Tom heads that ring when other drums are being played will detract from the sound of the recorded kit. The snare buzzing with every strike of the kik as well as the bass guitar is going to show up on the recording. Eliminating, or at least controlling these things will help immensely.
Much more than any piece of equipment can.
Recording is all about the source. Keeping this in mind and as a goal, will get you much better recordings no matter what the gear.
One thing to consider. The drums will easily show the problems in a recording environment. Its up to you, as the engineer, to correct those either by mic placement, gain staging at the console or preamps, or by sound control within the space. I suspect that all of these will be necessary.
Your 57's will do a very good job on drums though I would recommend a kik drum specific mic. A decent condenser out in the room will give you some 'size' to the kit, but will also record all the anomolies your room might have. Close micing all the kit will somewhat eliminate these anomolies but not all.
Office barriers with heavy packing blankets draped over them and placed around the room as well as around the kit (not too close! dont want to choke the set) will go a long ways to focusing the sound. While this is not the ideal room treatment, it is a great and cheap way to help an empty practice room/basement/storage space achieve a decent sound.
The rest is up to you. Placement and experimentation are crucial to getting good drums. Also, the choice of heads, tuning (cant emphasize that enough), and the weight and size of the cymbals also will determine the ease at which to arrive at a good sound.
Live cymbals that cut through a dense on-stage sound arent alwyas good recording cymbals. Tom heads that ring when other drums are being played will detract from the sound of the recorded kit. The snare buzzing with every strike of the kik as well as the bass guitar is going to show up on the recording. Eliminating, or at least controlling these things will help immensely.
Much more than any piece of equipment can.
Recording is all about the source. Keeping this in mind and as a goal, will get you much better recordings no matter what the gear.
What would make the most sense for you right now would be a used mixer. You could get a little Mackie with 4 to 8 mic pres, and just go out of the inserts in to your sound card.
Something like that would be very inexpensive, and there wouldn't be any noticeable difference in sound quality between it and a cheap outboard like a dmp3.
.
Something like that would be very inexpensive, and there wouldn't be any noticeable difference in sound quality between it and a cheap outboard like a dmp3.
.
thanks cave I forgot to mention I have a at 25 for the kick and a octiva 012 for overhead. all the rest is great info to keep in mind. Since I still new at drums I figured it would take a couple of hours to dial in his set. I didn't even think about a small mixer, wow back to mf for more research...