Basement Recording

[Fancy_Lebowski]

Alrighty, so my band has been preparing to do some recording for our first full length album for some time now. Last April, when I was still in college, I made use of the facilities and recorded all my bass parts first using the studio there. Since then I've been trying to figure out what would be the best way to record the drum parts, since we don't really have a budget where we can go to a studio for a few weeks to record and because we really want to take care of making sure that the end product sounds good and to do things on our own time.

For those who have their own home recording studios I do have a few questions. We do have our own powered mixer, a Peavey XR 1200D. I don't know much about setting up recording gear from scratch and I don't know how to set-up a powered mixer into a computer for recording. I figured that if we bought a good set of drum mics we could plug them into the mixer and into a computer that runs Pro Tools. I was wondering if anyone could help us come up with a set of instructions to set-up something like that.

Also our old jam space is in a living-room style basement with drywall walls. I was wondering if that would affect the sound of the drums in a negative way and maybe offer some suggestions to prepare the basement for recording with DIY techniques.

I should point out too that the genre we play is mostly thrash metal. All the bass parts have been recorded to a click track on Pro Tools and I created separate isolated bass tracks with and without the click for our drummer to play along to. I hope that these questions make sense.

 

[Greg_L]

You need an interface to get the mic inputs into a computer, unless your mixer doubles as an interface, which I doubt it does. You need as many inputs as mics you wanna use. I'd say 8 is a good number for complete control over the drum sub-mix. And I'd suggest you deaden that basement as much as possible. Put the drums in the middle to start with, record a few tracks, and see how it sounds. And of course, make sure the drums sound good enough to record. Bad sounding drums record badly.

 

[Track Rat]

What he said. That powered mixer probably won't be of much use to you. You'd need either inserts on all mic channels or direct outs and most mixers of that class don't have 'em.

 

[4tracker]

I'd only use an interface with 4 mics because honestly that room won't sound great, and you probably don't want more of that sound but rather you'll want less. I'd do two overheads, a kick, and a snare mic. Cardiods for all to keep focus on the kit. Then as Greg said deaden the walls. Maybe hang blankets, etc. I recorded drums in a basement once, and it was one of the worst experiences of my musical life. Holy comb filtering. But those were concrete walls. And this from someone who usually appreciates "character" recordings, but that was too much. I think a basement, finished or not, has issues and you'll want to have fewer mics and more deadening. Use it all wisely, and you probably wont' want a ton of OH in your mix. Also, if you have friends (or the other bandmates) I'd scout their homes for a better room. You don't need to rent a studio, you just need to find an adequate room.

 

[Greg_L]

More inputs and more mics is better in a bad room because you get more isolation from piece to piece. More control. More isolation means less audio clutter. You don't have to use all of those tracks, but they're there if you need them. What if the toms don't come out worth a fuck with the 4 mic method? You're doomed to bad tracks. With more inputs, you can control the overheads and supplement with the close mics.

 

[4tracker]

More inputs and more mics is better in a bad room because you get more isolation from piece to piece. More control. More isolation means less audio clutter. You don't have to use all of those tracks, but they're there if you need them. What if the toms don't come out worth a fuck with the 4 mic method? You're doomed to bad tracks. With more inputs, you can control the overheads and supplement with the close mics.

Hm, valid. It seems counter-intuitive.

 

[Greg_L]

Hm, valid. It seems counter-intuitive.

It does, no doubt. You'd think, bad room? Why introduce more mics? But more and more inputs can and does help to negate the bad effects of a bad room. More is ALWAYS better with drums. Always. But don't confuse that with meaning you always have to use every track available. If four is all you need, rock on. Those extra inputs are great to have if you want or need them though.

And obviously, mic placement is key. You can't just throw mics around willy-nilly. Smart placement will yield good results even in bad rooms.

 

[CMolena]

Everything depends on what sounds are you aiming for. If you want pop tunes that are radio-friendly, yeah, go ahead and isolate everything so then you can make it "listenable" for everyone.

But there is something about drums that werent recorded perfectly to our modern standards that makes me feel good. Listen to any record produced by Gabriel Roth and you'll see what I mean. Drums recorded with one mic, with weird placements and yet it sounds wonderful.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

Adverse conditions call for more mics. First, putting them closer helps keep the room out. Second, with separate mics you can fix things you couldn't fix with fewer mics picking up multiple drums.