Help/advice on recording drums

  • Thread starter Thread starter KaoticMentality
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KaoticMentality

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My friend and I are both musicians and are starting to want to record some of our ideas. I am looking into buying a drum microphone kit so i can record drums. (Im getting the software, and interface for vocals and guitars as well) I will have around 7 Mics for my drums so i will have to have something to plug all those mics into and record (Like a recording interface is used for guitars and vocals) but I don't know what. I have a GTDaudio BM-9200 8 channel Powered Mixer we use to play through PAs and wasn't sure if I could use this to record drums? It has inputs for microphones and also has inputs with "rec" over them, but I wasn't sure if there was a way I could use this or what do i have to get? Im confused on what exctly I need to get, if it is possible to use the mixer and something else to record or what?
The image of my mixer is attached.
Also we arent on a huge budget. But any help from experienced people would be much appreciated and any advice on what to get is appreciated.
 

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I can't find any info. about this item that isn't sales hype. Do you have the manual for it?
 
diggy_dude said:
I can't find any info. about this item that isn't sales hype. Do you have the manual for it?
Click to expand...

I do have the manual, but it is not very helpful. Its really simple and just tells you what each button/knob/input does etc. The Mixer is really good and works great, but the manual sucks lol. Does you know if it is even possible to use a powered mixer to record? Cause i really just want to know what i need to get besides microphones and software (and an interface for the vocals and guitar)
 
You can use an interface to record drums as well as anything else that you chose to plugin to it. How many channels does your interface have. Maybe you'll have to adjust your drum recording technique based on how may available channels you have.
 
That's not a mixer. It looks like a PA head. Where's the faders? No faders, no mixer.

Anywayz, sure you could probably run drums into that thing, but you still need to get em into a computer to actually mix them. How you gonna do that? An interface. Problem is that if you want total control over the drums, you need an interface that can take each input from the drums. Those cost $$$. You can get a cheap 2 input interface, but you're gonna be stuck with only 2 drum tracks. What you'll have to do is run your drums into that DJ mixer, then run stereo outputs into the 2 inputs of the interface, then the drums go into the computer as a stereo file. There's a million problems with doing it like that.

Sell that thing, save up some more money, and get on ebay and buy an interface with 8 inputs. Then you can run each drum into the computer and mix them like you're supposed to.
 
Greg_L said:
That's not a mixer. It looks like a PA head. Where's the faders? No faders, no mixer.

Anywayz, sure you could probably run drums into that thing, but you still need to get em into a computer to actually mix them. How you gonna do that? An interface. Problem is that if you want total control over the drums, you need an interface that can take each input from the drums. Those cost $$$. You can get a cheap 2 input interface, but you're gonna be stuck with only 2 drum tracks. What you'll have to do is run your drums into that DJ mixer, then run stereo outputs into the 2 inputs of the interface, then the drums go into the computer as a stereo file. There's a million problems with doing it like that.

Sell that thing, save up some more money, and get on ebay and buy an interface with 8 inputs. Then you can run each drum into the computer and mix them like you're supposed to.
Click to expand...

Its a powered mixer. And Im not going to sell it becuase we use it alot. It has 8 different channels and we use it to power PAs and cabs and play through them with guitars and mics.
 
Your right, they say "rec" not mic. It says they are used to "connects to cassette deck for recording the mixer output"
 
I don't have an interface yet. I plan on purchasing a 2 channel one so I can record guitars and vox with it. But the ones with 6-8 channels are SUPER expensive, and thats where its killing me, cause I need to record drums, but dont have something with enough channels as I will have mics to record.
 
You can connect the REC outputs to a tape deck or interface until you get a proper recording mixer.
 
Greg_L said:
I think they say "sell me and get something better".
Click to expand...


This thing works amazing. read some reviews on it. For the price it does a great job. It has nice effects(16 of them), Great clear sound, and for someone with a smaller budget and wants something to plug multiple instruments/mics into at a time and play with good loud clear sound, this does the job.:)
 
diggy_dude said:
You can connect the REC outputs to a tape deck or interface until you get a proper recording mixer.
Click to expand...

I think u might have helped me the most sir!! (Correct me if im wrong but) I hook up the drum mics to my mixer-- a cassette deck is connected to my mixer on the "rec" inputs- i then record the drums onto the tape-- then convert the tape to cd or mp3 and put it on my computer to put in my editing software.
I think thats how I could do it.
 
Yep. But if you have a way to connect the tape deck to the computer, you may as well skip the tape deck and plug the REC outputs directly into the computer.
 
Yeah i can get one with a USB input on it. I appreciate the advice and help. It means a lot.
 
KaoticMentality said:
Its a powered mixer. And Im not going to sell it becuase we use it alot. It has 8 different channels and we use it to power PAs and cabs and play through them with guitars and mics.
Click to expand...

KaoticMentality said:
This thing works amazing. read some reviews on it. For the price it does a great job. It has nice effects(16 of them), Great clear sound, and for someone with a smaller budget and wants something to plug multiple instruments/mics into at a time and play with good loud clear sound, this does the job.:)
Click to expand...

That's fantastic, but it's not gonna do you any good to record drums. You're talking about sending 7 or 8 inputs into that "mixer" and then running two outputs to tape, then converting that to CD, then into the computer. What you're gonna be left with is one stereo track of the entire drum kit just as it was recorded. You're not gonna be able to adjust anything. If the kick is too low or the snare doesn't cut through, you're not gonna be able to do anything about it. If you just wanna get something recorded and don't care how it sounds, then that way will be fine. If you want it to sound good, then you're gonna be really disappointed. I've done the drums > mixer > 2-channel interface method. It's a real pain in the ass.
 
yeah you might as well record with two room mics if your gonna be mixing it down through a PA head. That's for live sound. It might do the job but you wont get quality and it will take a LOT of trial and error.

$250 is super expensive?
 
Seriously. There's a pile of Firepods on ebay for under 200.

One Firepod will give you infinitely better results with the drums.
 
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