Buck62, triggers! no never. Ages ago I've triggered
an alesis D4 but don't have that setup anymore. Not a big fan of sampled drums, unless it's dance music. Dobro... yes your very close there.
Anyway.
Cmiller,
Yes, everything is in the same room, which sucks. But, it's workable just not ideal. The drums are so loud in here I can't tell a thing listening on headphones, I only put headphones on to block out the sound! Lately I've been going one step further and putting earplugs in, and then headphones. For tracking acoustics or vocals I can tell to some degree what it sounds like with headphones.
So, yes. I record a bit and then listen to it. If it's good enough then I'll proceed. Usually when it's another drummer I'll adjust mic's during warmup takes, and listen back during smoke/beer whatever breaks. Othertimes I'll just setup the mics and hit record and hope for the best! (blasphemy, I know).
One big problem of having one room is that your hearing will get killed, hence the earplugs/headphones. It can really mess your perspective up.
I'll state the obvious things. I always tune the kit as best I can before recording. Get rid of anything rattling, not just on the kit, pocket change sitting on top of an effects unit, two beer bottles 1/32 inches away from each other etc.
I think you already know the mics I use. Either C1000s for overheads or MXL603's. The infamous AKG D112 on kick, usually combined with either a rode NT1, or a Sennheiser 421. SM57's for snare and toms, sometimes 421 on floor if I'm not using it on kick. Front head off, pillow with half a patio block on top. Tom mics 5 or 6" up, angled accordingly. Overheads I usually do spaced pair.
Played around with XY and ORTF but migrated back to spaced pair. I try to get them as high as possible, my ceiling height being the obvious limitation. Usually pointing straight down, somewhere over the ride, and somewhere over the hihat and cymbals. Ride side a little lower, seems to pick up the ping a bit better. Overheads somewhat equidistant from the snare, and in a straight line to one another. Cymbals are average height from toms, about a foot for the high tom, 10" or so for ride. More than that and the drummer gets upset. Same with highhat, I put it as high as possible so I can angle the snare mic in (and give it better distance from the snare - 6" or so) and get a blend of hi-hat, but not too much.
After recording, it's all send to a sampler and fed back out synthesised.
I don't know if any of that is of any help. Every kit is different, every player, every room. Some of my drum sounds I'm happy with, but it's a bit of hit and miss (as is my playing technique).
It's a drag tracking drums in the same room as your playback, but it's not impossible.
