8 Tracks At a Time?

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Village Idiot

Village Idiot

The Love Butler
Whooo Boy....
Now that my band is touring quite well, people want to buy a CD that does not exist.

And I am coming under intense pressure (Mostly from myself)
to record a "sellable" CD that we can sell on our own.

First question...

Can I record the drums into 8 individual tracks with the equipment I have?

We do not have the money to go into a studio to do it.

Here's the breakdown:

Mackie 1604-VLZ Pro: 16 channel board, nice pre-amps.

Audiophile 24/96 card.

Compaq :( Presario with AMD K-2 processor, no idea the speed.
256 RAM memory.
I do have access to a computer with an Athlon in it and 1.5 speed.

N-Track 26/96 recording software.

Can I somehow get the 8 tracks coming out of the Mackie into the Audiophile into the N-Track?
I do not want to sub-mix the drums. Tried it, hate the sound.

Any help would be appreciated, we need to record FAST!!!!

VI
 
Your computer is more than likely up to the task but your sound card is not. Two analog ins and a S/PDIF in will give you the capability of four tracks at a time but that also assumes you have a mic preamp with S/PDIF output at your disposal.
 
Thanks TrackRat!

I have GOT TO somehow record the drums properly.

What do I need to buy to get a properly-mic'ed Drumset recorded on our own?

Thanks for your input.

VI

Anyone else?
 
I would recommend the Audiotrak INCA88. It have 8 ins and 8 outs, not very expensive, and have good sound (all things are relative), and it should work with N-Track as it has WDM-drivers...

I use it with a Soundcraft F1 mixer (16 channels = 8 mic & 8 line), and are happy with the results...

For a good post on how to record drums using 3 mic's, read here.
 
When I was restricted to 8 tracks total, I used to do drums in three tracks; kick to track one, snare to track two and the toms and overheads sub mixed to track three. Obviously not stereo drums but I still kept the ability to change kick and snare levels which I believe is more important. This way you can use the fourth track to put in a guide track of guitar or whatever. Then dub in all the rest of your tracks.
 
The Delta 1010 and that mixer will provide plenty of flexibility for doing up the drums.
 
Thanks for the replies, guyz...

So if I understand correctly, I need some kind of "breakout" box that has at least 8 in/out, then into my N-Track?

I also remembered that I have access to an Aardvark Pro 24/96, which is a 4 in/out I believe.

What I want to mic is as follows:

1. Snare (Top & Bottom)

2. Kick

3. mounted tom

4. mounted tom

5. floor tom

6. crash cymbal

7. ride cymbal

8. maybe a room mic


Here is the game plan:

To record the tracks as clean and accurately as possible, then send them to Blue Bear Sound for mastering.
Bruce knows I want him to master these, but I will be wasting his time sending the lame sub-mixed drum tracks.


Should I rent a unit such as the Aardvark Q10?
Or maybe the Delta 1010 like Doc says?
Moskus: Thanks for the link to that unit. Seems like you Europeans know of hip products that us Yanks have never even heard of!
Track Rat: I hear ya, but I seem to lose complete contol over cymbal crashes. I like the idea of fine-tuning each drum piece in the mix as needed.

No way can we afford to buy an 8 in/out or more unit at this time, but we are set on recording it ourselves.




VI
 
You don't need to mic the cymbals. You can easily get by with one overhead and a kick mic. The rest is gravy. Add a snare and stereo OH's and that should be plenty. Any more mics and you better have a very good handle on phase cancellation. You will probably have your hands full with just 4 mics.

Is Bruce mastering or mixing? From your statement it sounds like you might be a little confused on the difference.
 
Hi, V.I.

I recently bought a Delta 1010lt and the last week I made some tests for miking a whole drumset with 7 mics.

I used 2 Overheads (an SP C1 and a MXL 603s. OK, OK. I know i should have used a pair of something, but I have no other condensers), a snare mic, tom mics and a BD mic.

My comp. is a P III 677 mhz and it was OK, no dropouts or clicks at all.

After all the hassle, I ended up using the toms sounds from my OHs

I recommend you that you try to get a 4 mics setup (2 OHs, 1 snare, 1 BD). Then you could use your other 2 inputs in the Audiophile.


Good luck in your recordings!
 
V.I., I've been cutting back more and more on mics I use on a kit. I've pretty much jelled on 7.
Kick
Snare
Rack toms (one mic per group of two)
Floor tom
Overhead left
Overhead right
Front of the kit (about 16" off the floor, 3' or so out in front of the kick)
I tried many times to go without the tom tight mics but I can't get by that "SMACK" that they provide.
 
VI,

u ma brutha, so ill offer some brotherly advice.....i see that you have a few options

first off, Audiophiles are getting up to $150 on ebay....ditch it.......
the Delta 1010lt is going for $329.....8 analog ins/outs.....even has 2 preamps.....you would only have to boot up less than $200....considering the fact you are looking at renting gear, at least this money would let you own the gear.....

second idea is the use the Aardvark unit you have access to and settle on 4 tracks of drums.....2 overheads kick and snare.....i think more experimenting with mic placement will help your cymbal problem......

cut the drum tracks in a pro or semi pro studio.......
 
Thanks, Gidge!

I took in those comments of yours...

And I will look into that Delta 1010LT Thang.

Can you or anyone post for me what they consider a good home-recorded drum track for my ears to check out?

Thanks again.

VI
 
Track Rat- your link punked out!

Here's mine done with 4 mics, using the pres on an A&H Mix Wiz 16:2, direct out into the Delta 1010. Recorded using Vegas Video 3.0 last Sunday.

Mics were Rode NT-1 (x2) as overheads, an AKG D-112 as kick mic
and an SM-57 under the snare! The drummer slipped a $20 bill under the sizzlers on the snare to quiet it down a tad. Yeah- he's a pro! His hits had amazing consistency which allowed me to capture these 24/44.1 tracks within 0.1 dB of clip!!!!!

PHAT!!!

 
Ed had some awesome stuff posted with 4 mics, but the links are all dead.......

Doc, that sounded really good!
 
Thanks Gidgemo!

I drove 65 miles to get to this McGuyver Studio set up in a living room and then fucked up by forgetting to bring the Power Supply for the Delta 1010!!! That was a 2.5 hour drive to rectify that situation!!!

Still got in 8 hours of recording before the players crapped out!!!
 
Track Rat: Checked out your drum clip. Sounded pretty impressive, but the 4 seconds you gave me to listen to it in didn't let me take it all in. Do you have more I could hear?

Doc!..That sounded pretty good too, but my biggest fear is what I had heard on this clip. The crash cymbal sounded too harsh.
That was what I was getting with the recordings I mixed.

I really appreciate all the input.

Maybe if someone can post the BEST Drum track they have heard recorded at home, it will give me another pint of reference.

VI
 
Thanks for that second opinion. I'll drop that right channel overhead a few dB in favor of the snare track. That should clear it up!

Rock ON!
 
I dunno, Doc...

Like I said, it sounded good, maybe it was just my ears hearing a little harshness andd wash-out on the crash?

VI
 
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