Firewire Interface purchasing advice

[guitaristic]

Rather than run out and buy another mic for the bottom of the snare, can I use the condenser mic that is for the hi-hat? I don't know too much about microphones yet?

One of my favorite things about recording is that there are no rules...just what sounds good and what doesn't! Play around with it!

 

[danterecord]

I remember my dad hitting my guitar against the floor, breaking it, because my brother (that also played with it) got low grades at school.. he also ripped off my guitar magazines. By the way, I always excelled at school but he just hated so much the idea of us getting into music that he would do whatever he could to keep us from it. We didn't dedicate our lives to music, my brother is dentist, I'm a doctor, but music was and will always be part of our lives, and believe it or not, he still hates that..
..so, you are a great dad

 

[KCPYRO]

I remember my dad hitting my guitar against the floor, breaking it, because my brother (that also played with it) got low grades at school.. he also ripped off my guitar magazines. By the way, I always excelled at school but he just hated so much the idea of us getting into music that he would do whatever he could to keep us from it. We didn't dedicate our lives to music, my brother is dentist, I'm a doctor, but music was and will always be part of our lives, and believe it or not, he still hates that..
..so, you are a great dad

I appreciate your accolades. I can understand parents not wanting their kids to get into music as the industry certainly has its pitfalls but it sounds like he took his dislike to an extreme. Fortunately for you and your brother, you both have obviously done quite well for yourself. Great job!

 

[D.A. Badger]

Using the Condenser for the underside of the snare is totally possible. Do be aware that condensers are a bit more sensitive SPL-wise so don't glue them to the snare
Good luck recording!

 

[Supercreep]

best dad evar

 

[KCPYRO]

OK, the condenser mic under the snare doesn't seem to be working too well. Appears to be way too sensitive and is spiking the meter in Reaper. Still not getting a very good sound quality from several mics, mainly the snare and bass drum. We need to read more about mixing but I'm thinking about moving the drums out of the basement and into his bedroom to see if the sound is any better. The wife probably won't care for that too much but it's the only way i can think of to determine how much the recording is being impacted by the basement emptiness.

Also thinking about picking up a used Shure 57 for the snare and ditching the condenser mic idea.

 

[Shadow_7]

Used i5 for snare as well. Don't forget to invert the phase from under the drum if mixing with another track from above the drum/snare. If you don't like the sound of the drums, there are WAV to MID options and swap out your actual drums for MIDI sounds of drums. One way to make some use of a bad room / bad set. Or just get off cheap relative to actual gear. With drums you have to be leary of SPL limits on mics. Not that you'll stay past spec for long, but just enough to sound bad often. I look for about 140dB SPL for trombone. Unless you're 9' off the ground micing from above you might need something in that neck of the woods. Bear in mind that SPL specs are measured at 1 meter. You're probably half that distance when micing most instruments. Rugs and other things to tame to beast.

 

[KCPYRO]

I'm pretty sure I inverted the phase on the two sanre mics. Still learning Reaper but found the invert function. I think the snare sounds better with two mics although we're not happy with the condenser mic.

I think we're going to take the snare, interface, mics and laptop up to his bedroom and do some recording of the snare to see if the sound is better. If it is, we'll probably move everything upstairs until I can build a room in the basement for him.