Here's what I got, any suggestions?

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maddrummer

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Ok, I'm young and am pretty much learning everything on my own from books and articles and by just doing it myself, and i just want to hear any suggestions based on the gear I have. I am a drummer and I've been working so hard to get a good drum sound(something i think everyone has been doing). Here's what i got:
Mackie 1642 VLZ Pro- Delta 1010- Proaudio 9
kik-AKG D112 snare-sm57 toms-e604 overheads- Rode NT1 and Audio Technica 3525 ( i probably should have a matched pair but i have a really limited budget) Hi-hat- Audio Technica ATM10a (which i really don't like much, but i really don't know much)

I've been running the overheads through a ART Dual MP to a Presonus ACP 22 Compressor. Everything else goes straight from the Mackie to the computer. I do some basic eq on the mackie (which is annoying because i really can't monitor myself playing) and do more within Cakewalk.

The drums are tuned fairly well, but the toms rumble like crazy, i use a gate in cakewalk which works fine, but they still rumble way too much. If i dampen them they loose total tone quality and become a big THUD.

Sorry its so lengthy but i really want to get this down. So anything you can say to help would be great....thanks.
 
I dont know those mics very well but one thing you should avoid is using eq. Especially when recording and especially with the mackie.

Use a little software EQ if you absolutely have to. Try to move the mics around and get the sound you want that way instead of hitting the EQ right away.
 
personally when ive recorded toms iin the past ive eq'ed the toms and only the toms but ive done it prior to recording(anyone whos tried to do it post recordin will know how hard it is to eq something that gets used maybe twice in a recordin)but try to scoop the eq out of the sound as opposed to adding to it but i agree with tex try not to use any eq look at it as a last resort...remember part of being a good drummer is knowing the best way to tune a kit for the job
 
Hey, this one caught my eye, because im running almost the exact same setup. Now bare with me, cause this is gonna be lenghty. First ill start with how you can monitior while you play...

First, ive seen that running unbalanced 1/4" gives a better signal than blanaced XLR inputs on your mackie. At least with the kick, snare, and toms, since they have such a high input. Ok, im going to assume youre running the kick drum in channel one, if youre using 1/4" then you go into 'line-in'. And now ill assume that youre using your "direct outs" on the back of your board to run directly into your delta1010. (which brings me to a whole serperate topic i will discuss later) Now the software provided with delta1010 allows you to route the kick drum to the OUTPUT of delta1010 in the corresponding channel. To do that go to your m-audio control panel-pathcbay/router tab. It says on each one...
"h/w Out 1/2".... if you select the "h/w in 1/2" this will send the signal going INTO channels 1 and 2 right back OUT 1 and 2. So you can pick the signal up again. I have a feeling yuo knew that though.

Now comes the problem of running all these signals back into your board. You didnt say how many mics you were using so i dont know how many tracks are used. Ill assume 8, because thats all you have for direct outs. You do have 8 more inputs on the board where you could run 1/4' cables from the delta1010 outs the channels 9/10. Of course this would be in stereo and it would be odd to listen to. So lets consider your mic setup and see where we can patch these channels back into the board at.

mackie input
channel 1-kick
channel 2-snare
channel 3-hit tom
channel 4-mid tom
channel 5-lo tom
channel 6-hi hat
channel 7-left OH
channel 8-Right OH

Ok, so youve run each of those into your delta1010 inputs, and set your control panel to route each signal through delta1010's outputs. So you could do something like this..

Delta 1010 outputs
output 1->aux return 1
output 2->aux return 2
output 3->line in 9 -\___ Two toms in stereo channel
output 4->line in 10 -/
output 5->aux return 3
output 6->Line in 11 -Mono channel capable of panning
outout 7->Line in 13 -Mono channel capable of panning
output 8->Line in 15 -mono channel capable of panning

From here you can adjust your aux channels and everything else that should act as a monitor for your mix.

Heres another way. Instead of using direct out on the back of your board, use the 'inserts' right next to the 'line in-s' on your channels. If you use a stereo 'y' cable as indicated on the back of your board you can run the signal OUT and BACK in the same channel, as if you were using the delta1010 as an effect unit. This provided no signal interruption, however, you would need to buy 8 of these cables.

Another option is to again use the 'insrets' but only plug your mono 1/4" cable half way into the board. This still sends the signal to the delta1010 and lets the mackie still control itself.

FInally one more way to monitor is strictly software oriented.
Cakewalk shuold provide a way to monitor its inputs. I dont know for sure cause i tried cakewalk and hated it.

Im not sure if that bit provided any help, cause im not sure exactly what your surrent setup is.

Now about everything else. Use 1/4" for your drum inserts (kick, snare toms etc..._ and xlr if you want for cymbals. Actually use 1/4' on everything if possible. If toms sound bad, try retuning them again. I wouldnt use EQ from the mackie board. Better to record all your tracks raw and work on them later.

DELTA1010....what a wonder. It works great and is affordable. Downsides, no preamps, and the drivers for win2k suck ballz. I upgraded to xp and am still waiting to try it out. win2k drivers like to giv me clicks and pops.

anyways, sorry about the length of this contact me at thomas@typecastrock.com with any questions or AOL screen name tommydorky Id also like to hear what youre doing, and if you want ill give you a sound sample of my setup. Good luck
-Thomas
 
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