Excellent drums with only 2 channels?

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metdrummer00

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Alright, my band is set to record a demo. I think we're gonna use the M-Audio MobilePre which has 2 channels that can be used. What's the best way to divide up the drums for each channel? I would like some reverb on the snare, but that's about it for effects besides a warm, punchy kick and warm toms?

Here's what I had in mind:

Snare - Channel 1
Toms, Kick, cymbals - Channel 2 (if you throw some effects on this channel would it effect cymbals, or is it such a high frequency it won't matter?)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Just use a dynamic in the kick and a small diameter condensor overhead
 
No what I mean is that I'd like to hook up mic to every piece of drum equipment (toms, kick, snare, cymbals) and feed that into a Mackie 1604 VLZ, and I was wondering how to divide all those channels into the MobilePre(which has 2 channels).
 
just use the tape outs on your mackie (L & R) to inputs 1 and 2 on your mobilepre.
you will need a lot of testing to make sure everything sounds balanced but in the end if you do it right it will sound good

i dont think its a good idea to send snare to track 1 and everything to track 2 cause you may want your cymbals and toms to sound stereo but thats up to you.

and yes, if you apply an effect on track 2 it would affect everything including cymbals
 
Why don't you buy or borrow a cheap 6 channel mixer?

Then you could mix 6 channels down to 2 and expand the possibilities.
 
Well, theres lots of different ways of doing this. In your position what I would do (and have done before) would be to record a scratch track of drums (just one mic in the room with the drums) and guitar of the song you're recording to a click if you can, then record the other parts built around the scratch drums and guitar (like rythms, bass, etc). Get those elements sounding good and then go back and record your drums premixed. The reason for this is so you can tweak your drums before they 'go to tape' to fit with the rest of the recorded instruments. Remember, if you record your drums a certain way you will have to mix around the drums because you will have little options to control the way your drums sound after they have been recorded. If you do it the way I describe, you can EQ the kick, the snare, toms, and overheads the way they need to be in accordance with the song. You can use the inserts on the mackie to apply compression and whatever other dynamics processing you want to the individual drums and use the AUX send and returns to apply reverb to the snare and/or toms in a manner that will cooperate with the other tracks. It's a lot of trial and error but can yield very good results.
 
All you can sensibly do is to mix down to a stereo pair. You can't separate the volumes out afterwards though - so trial and error with lots of re-tracking is the only way.
 
When I record live, I am limited in tracks, so here's what I do and it works great:

I use a large diaphraghm condenser (Oktava MK319) as an overhead, but I place it just over the drummers right shoulder as close to the kit as possible without being in his way, and I aim it toward the bass drum. Then I use a small diaphragm cond. (Oktava MC012) with a pad on the snare. I don't put the snare mic right on the snare, I space it a few inches to let a little bit of the kit bleed in.

The LDC is sensitive and picks up the whole kit, even the bass drum surprisingly well. The first time I did it I had a D112 on the bass drum and ended up not using the track. The closer you can get the mic, the more close-mic'd they'll sound. The bleed in the snare mic lets you pan the tracks SLIGHTLY, just enough to hear some stereo field to it.

Not the best way to do it, but it works well for me. I'll post a sample if I have time.
 
leddy said:
When I record live, I am limited in tracks, so here's what I do and it works great:

I use a large diaphraghm condenser (Oktava MK319) as an overhead, but I place it just over the drummers right shoulder as close to the kit as possible without being in his way, and I aim it toward the bass drum. Then I use a small diaphragm cond. (Oktava MC012) with a pad on the snare. I don't put the snare mic right on the snare, I space it a few inches to let a little bit of the kit bleed in.

The LDC is sensitive and picks up the whole kit, even the bass drum surprisingly well. The first time I did it I had a D112 on the bass drum and ended up not using the track. The closer you can get the mic, the more close-mic'd they'll sound. The bleed in the snare mic lets you pan the tracks SLIGHTLY, just enough to hear some stereo field to it.

Not the best way to do it, but it works well for me. I'll post a sample if I have time.
Click to expand...
Please do post a sample if you can
 
metdrummer00 said:
No what I mean is that I'd like to hook up mic to every piece of drum equipment (toms, kick, snare, cymbals) and feed that into a Mackie 1604 VLZ, and I was wondering how to divide all those channels into the MobilePre(which has 2 channels).
Click to expand...

This is a ridiculous way to mic drums for most music. There is almost no need to put a mic on every cymbal & tom unless you are doing some crazy prog rock shit. The more mics you have, the more phasing problems you are going to have to deal with. Great drum tracks have been recorded with as few as 1 microphone to as many as can be handled, but it takes quite a bit of engineering know-how. I would recommend starting with, at most, a 4-mic setup (snare[centered], kick[centered], 2xoverheads[xy pattern, hard-panned left and right]). You can run the 4 mics into your mackie, pan as stated above, and send the main stereo outs to the interface. That will cover most music styles pretty well, it's easy to do, and phasing is not nearly as much of an issue. Read the following articles for more ideas on techniques:

http://artistpro.com/index.php?module=PnCourses&func=getPage&course_id=22&page_id=107

If you are insisting on miking everything, then you will just have to run it all into your mackie and sub-mix it to a stereo track to send to the mobile-pre. As a general rule, bass drum and snare should be dead-center in the mix. For everything else, pan it either from the position of the drummer (rt handed drummer typically has hat on left, toms from left to right, descending, and cymbals however you like to set them up) or from out in front of the kit. I hope your mackie has phase switches on every channel, because you are going to need them. :)
 
I agree with scrubs, Its a bad way to record drums. You have basic gear so keep your recording method basic. Your recordings will sound better. If you want and are trying to get a drum machine sound on your recordings then buy a drum machine or wait till you have the recorder and channels to get that sound. Which is going to cost alot.
With what you have I would try 1 kick and one in the middle of the drums facing the snare just high enough to stay out of the way of the drummer. I use this method alot and it works great.
Or try Just the large diaphram mic in front of the kit about chest high and out about 4 to 5 feet infront of the kit. Maybe if you want more snare with this method put your extra mic on the snare and see if that works.
Remember keep it simple.
Good luck with your recording. :)
 
Yah, keep it simple is the best advice.

If you have 2 condensors, set them up overhead. Put a dynamic in the kick.

Put the condensors into mixer channels 1 & 2 and pan them hard left. Put the dynamic into channel 3 and pan hard right. Plug the mixer Main outs into the 2 sound card inputs, and arm 2 tracks for recording in your s/w. Set up track 1 to record the left input, and track 2 the right. The condensors will be recorded on track 1 and the kick on track 2.

The advantage of doing this is you can now EQ and compress the tracks seperately. Kicks need different EQ treatment to snare & cymbals
 
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