Another idjut newb who needs to be slapped some and pointed in the right direction

  • Thread starter Thread starter fixthedoor
  • Start date Start date
Acoustic drum kit. Type of music varies from country, hardrock to metal. Mic selection will increase as funds allow,

Heya, be sure to check out Greg_L's drum recording tutorial in the Drum and Percussion section. He gets a pretty decent sound with minimal mics and he explains how he does it. The thread is a sticky at the top of the Drum section.

peace,
 
I have the 1641, and it made me very happy. Solid piece of machine right there :D I'd definitely recommend it!

It has also got 2 direct line-in's on the front (for guitars/bass/whatever) and 4 extra mic inputs on the back, but those require a pre-amp. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback. What DAW are you using? How many tracks are you recording at once?

oh, and if you're doing electronic drums with midi, you'd actually need less mic inputs on your interface, so you might actually save some $ if you wanted to go that route. Personally, I've always only used acoustic drums.

Not much of a fan of the electric drums, and I don't expect to hook them up any time soon. If anything I would use them to compliment the acoustic kit.

A MOTU 8Pre would be a fine choice. You may find a used one in your price range. I assume your mac has a firewire port? Check ebay.

For tom mics, I actually prefer these $30 57 knock-offs to my actually SM57. Check em... http://www.speakerrepair.com/mm5/me...de=genem&Product_Code=37-206x3&Category_Code=

Thanks for the tip on the MOTU. I started checking it out and I found a few for a little over $300. However, I have a mental block on buying used electronics.

I will definitely try out the ES57's. Not that I know how a SM57 sounds, but the reviewers were making the comparison. 3 for less than the price of 1 seems like a good deal.

Okay, well more up to a certain point. You don't want to have 15 mics on your kit, but at least enough to get a couple overheads, kick, and snare.

I do plan to start out with 3-4, but after Jeff_d's recommendation, the number will increase sooner than I was planning.
 
NO, NO, NO ..... He has to get in line! That was just the first. I'm next.

:spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

There ... I don't know. I'm feeling a little better now. :D
:cool:

Are you the one that recommends a pair of Naiant X-S mics for overhead mic'ing of drums?

I've used it. It's decent and has lots of features that take a while to grasp. Definitely connect it with balanced cables or it may get a bit noisy. There are better sounding headphone amps but I don't know of any with all the tricks it has.

Always factor cabling into any equipment purchase you're thinking about.

Thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of a compact unit like Grim suggested, but I can see it getting out of hand quickly. Having a bunch of little devices all over the place that is. I'm tight on space as it is and that's why I think I will plan on the Behringer unit.

Yeah I will make sure to use balanced cables (just started learning about those).

On the Behringer, I assume I could connect a monitor amp or powered monitors to the L/R Mains on the rear, is this correct?

You don't need an amp to record bass. Buy or borrow a decent direct box. Then you can track bass and drums with no bleed between them.

Obviously I wasn't thinking when I wrote that, so yeah minimally a bass.

Heya, be sure to check out Greg_L's drum recording tutorial in the Drum and Percussion section. He gets a pretty decent sound with minimal mics and he explains how he does it. The thread is a sticky at the top of the Drum section.

peace,

Thanks for the tip, I will check it out.
 
On the Behringer, I assume I could connect a monitor amp or powered monitors to the L/R Mains on the rear, is this correct?

You should be able to pass the signal through the unit to monitors using the balanced output.
 
Alright, I have been driving myself bat-shiite crazy looking at different Audio interfaces and I am still indecisive. My gut tells me to just go with the inexpensive 1641 and be done with it. The justification I came up with is:

I am brand new to all of this. Until figure things out and gain experience, I won't know how deep I want to go, or whether I'll want a control surface, mixer or an audio interface. Or any combination thereof.

But then I start looking at features, and it starts to get muddy. The 3 interfaces I have been looking at are:

8Pre US2000 US1641
MIC Pre-amps 8 8 8
Front 0 2 8
Rear 8 6 0

Other inputs Optical 6 1/4" 6 1/4"

Metering Display yes yes no

MIDI I/O no I/O

Computer Firewire USB 2.0 USB 2.0
Connection

Digital Connection no yes yes
Optical Connection yes no no

Phantom power 8 for 8 4 for 8 2 for 8

1/4" Outs Main L/R Monitor L/R Monitor L/R
Line (4) Line (4)

$550.00 $450.00 $270.00

(it looks a lot better in true spreadsheet form, and is by no means comprehensive)

**After posting I saw how lousy this came out; I'll fix it later.**

The first thing I consider is the number of available inputs. They all have 8 XLR inputs, but 8pre has combi jacks. However the 2000 and 1641 both have additional 1/4" jacks, which give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, but I don't know how I would end up using them.

Next is the metering display. Should it matter that I have a physical meter? Wouldn't one be displayed on my laptop screen?

The firewire connection is clearly superior.

Then I look at the phantom power controls and I like the flexibility that the 8pre offers. Even the 2000 seems like the number of inputs the switch controls is acceptable. Should I be placing so much value in the number of inputs a phantom power switch controls?

The last main item is the number of 1/4" outputs. The 8pre only has L/R Main Outs while the 2000 and 1641 have L/R Monitors and (4) Line Outs. Again this is one of those warm and fuzzy feelings for me.

So for the governmental report, but the more I read the more I confuse myself. I'm trying not start off on the wrong foot, but I don't even know if that would be the case with the interfaces I am looking at. Any advice, input, etc would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Thanks for the feedback. What DAW are you using? How many tracks are you recording at once?

I had been using the Cubase LE that came with the Tascam, but I'm thinking of switching to Reaper. I run anywhere from 1-7 tracks regularly with no problem! I'm sure it could handle more, but I've just never needed to use more!

Go with your warm, fuzzy feeling :D
 
Go with your warm, fuzzy feeling :D

Agreed. Whatever route you take, you'll learn that route and once you know it, you'll be able to apply what you know to any route. All the systems and combinations of systems work, they're all variations on a theme, so it's much of a muchness, really.
 
Hey fixthedoor, Yeah. Did you research the Naiants? For the price they are damn good!







:cool:
 
Hey fixthedoor, Yeah. Did you research the Naiants? For the price they are damn good!
:cool:

Found them online as well as in threads with your "shameless" plugs :drunk: but outside of that I haven't looked much into them. I just barely started to scratch the surface of mics and mic placement as most of my energy has been spent on figuring out other parts of my setup. For the price though I put them on my list and figured I would give them a shot.

I was thinking about using a pair of them in a (4) mic setup for the drums as the overhead mics.
 
Found them online as well as in threads with your "shameless" plugs :drunk: but outside of that I haven't looked much into them. I just barely started to scratch the surface of mics and mic placement as most of my energy has been spent on figuring out other parts of my setup. For the price though I put them on my list and figured I would give them a shot.

I was thinking about using a pair of them in a (4) mic setup for the drums as the overhead mics.

No shame at all .... just that for the price of a couple of good omni microphones you can't beat them.
I could have plugged a pair of something else at about $500.+ ..... but you'd get just about the same results in your recordings. ;)







:cool:
 
Back
Top