If I am going to be recording live drums..

L

lyricist

New member
Forgive me if i am posthing this in the wrong forum. Let me know where this SHOULD be posted instead and I will edit this post out and put this topic in the correct place.


Heres the question on Computer Recording(Which is why I couldnt decide if i should put it in that forum or not..) but more to do with how to record drums.

Idealy, what specs on a soundcard should I be looking for if I am going to be recording live drums? More specifically, How many mics would be needed to record drums? How many mics could I get away with using?


I was looking into the firebox but I believe it only has 2 places for a mic. Would I need more?



I plan on first recording my keys, saving it..replaying it to myself while recording the drums...and so on and so forth with the other instruments/vocals.

So I wont be recording 2 or more instruments at the same time. ..just one at a time.




This is off the topic of this forum but i understand if you purchase firebox you get "cubase"(I believe it was?) Now, when i first started this recording stuff I got crappy FLstudio(fruity loops) for free to use-- so i am used to that. Would cubase be extremely hard for me and not only that but if I didnt like cubase could I use another program with the firebox?
 
What type of music are you recording? What is the intended use for the finished recording? Are you confident enough in your mixing skills to do a drum sub-mix outside of the computer?
 
When I mic a drum kit I'll use anywhere between 3 mics (kick, snare and a mono overhead) for a minimalist approach up to 8 mics if I'm tight miking everything. All things being equil, my usual approach is 5 mics kick, snare, 2 tom mics and an overhead).
 
Track Rat said:
When I mic a drum kit I'll use anywhere between 3 mics (kick, snare and a mono overhead) for a minimalist approach up to 8 mics if I'm tight miking everything. All things being equil, my usual approach is 5 mics kick, snare, 2 tom mics and an overhead).
Click to expand...

same here, although my kit's a bit bigger and i can easily eat 10-12 tracks when micing everything.

kick (double mic'd), snare, OH x2, each of the toms (x5) and a pair of room mics. that's 12 tracks.

minimally, i can get by with 2x kick, snare, mono OH and a pair of room--6 tracks.


cheers,
wade
 
I understand that if I have like 3 mics on the drum i can record 4 seperate tracks right? But on each of those tracks wouldnt i be able to hear the other drum sounds?

eg..i have one mic up to the snare..wouldnt that same mic record cymbal sounds? etc




Its punk/rock music and i honestly do not know how to get these beats any other way then playing them.

these recordings dont have to be perfect

i have the keyboard sounds layed out.

i tried doing the drums on my synth but i dont know how. but i can play it on an acoustic drumset so i figure that would be easier. just dont know what ineed to pick up all the sound...


maybe someone knows some type of "secret" to getting fast drumbeats without playing them live but idont know it.


Thanks for the replies.
 
dude even one mic can get a good sound.

1 mic = height of the top of the bass drum, 5-10 feet out in front of the kit

2 mics = either the same as above (experiment with height) + bass drum for mono, or same as above in xy pattern for stereo

3 mics = bass drum on track 1, snare and overhead (out front or over kit) mixed to track 2 on the way in -or- bass drum mic, snare mic over drummer's shoulder, third mic to the far side of the low tom, height of low tom, pointed at the snare, recorded all in mono.

alternate positioning - 2 mics in xy pattern waist height pointed somewhere else other than the drums (if the room sounds just that good)

any of those would be "punk rock" in my book.
 
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