electronic drum recording question

[jcuthbertson]

hey guys...

i've been getting equipment together for my home studio project. when recording, do most people that use electronic kits use acoustic (REAL) cymbals or electronic pads? i own an acoustic kit but i can't play it in my house because of the neighbor noise issue. i was just wondering if triggered cymbals sound natural and real enough.

thanks,
jacob

 

[Pughbert]

If your gonna record a electro kit, definatly use real cymbals. The electronic sounds are very noticably unreal. Its getting more popular now to record drums this way, but you will have to play around with mic placment and eq to cut down on the flap of the pads.

 

[mikeh]

While advancements in electronic percussion have been impressive, the cymbal sounds are still lacking. I have heard some sample libraries that aren't bad, but I have yet to hear stock sounds on a module that are convincing.

In answer to your question, many people do use electronic drums with accoustic cymbals. As Pughbert indicates, the overhead used to record accoustic cymbals can pick up the attack of the stick on the electronic pads, so you have to be aware of that when tracking.

When I can use accoustic cymbals with my e-drums I do. If I can't record live cymbals (neighbor issues, etc) I then either use the cymbal sounds from my modules - in which case I work with EQ and mix the cymbals low enough in the mix where they are not a focus (candidly, I feel cymbals are a color, which should be used in moderation anyway.

If the project is "important" then I may trigger cymbal samples, but hooking up the sampler and assigning MIDI notes, etc is a fair amount of extra work that I avoid if I can.

 

[TimOBrien]

Depends solely on if you can live with it.

UWW: Use Whatever Works.

 

[jcuthbertson]

thanks...

thanks for the advice guys. i hadn't thought of the issue of pad stick noise bleeding into the cymbal mics. i appreciate your input!