New Member...Miking up drumkit

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brainofj

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Hi there........I am going to try and record my mates drum kit. I have never really had a proper try at this. We will be using 4 sm58's and i also have an AUDIOTECHNICA ATR30 , pretty shitty i think, but it gets worse. I also have 6 mics from a coca cola promotion, they are named GS56S made by a company called John Hogi Skewes. Will they be worth using? I also have one other instrument mic named D727 from Maplin Electronic. I will be using a TASCAM 414 PORTASTUDIO connected to my P.C running CUBASE VST 5. I would really appreciate some good tips and advice on what i am using and techniques to try out.
 
brainofj said:
Hi there........I am going to try and record my mates drum kit. I have never really had a proper try at this. We will be using 4 sm58's and i also have an AUDIOTECHNICA ATR30 , pretty shitty i think, but it gets worse. I also have 6 mics from a coca cola promotion, they are named GS56S made by a company called John Hogi Skewes. Will they be worth using? I also have one other instrument mic named D727 from Maplin Electronic. I will be using a TASCAM 414 PORTASTUDIO connected to my P.C running CUBASE VST 5. I would really appreciate some good tips and advice on what i am using and techniques to try out.
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Man...
I guess just use the four 58's. just record each mic to a track of tape. 2 overheads one kick and one for snare.
Figure out placement on your own. Do it with headphones in the room while the drummer is playing. Then mix to the computer later.
If you are an aspiring audio engineer, this is your job, listen always. No one can tell you a way to record that will be better than good use of your ears.
 
Try the other mics too....

You will never know if the other mics are any good unless you try them out!

Just record something for a few minutes with the SM58 then with the other mic and A/B compare them during play back.

*BTY* The SM58 is an industry standard and all other dynamic cardiods are compared to this famous microphone during development and testing. So you have the right equipment to do a test.

Dom:)
 
brainofj, I have a 414 in a closet somewhere, and if memory serves, there are rather limited output options. You didn't mention any multiple input a/d interface between the portastudio and the computer. So, are we talking about taking stereo output (RCA Line Out jacks, Left and Right) from the 414 to the 1/8 inch stereo Line In jack on the back of the computer sound card?

If so, obviously you will have to get the mix right on the Tascam before transferring to Cubase where you will be unable to treat any tracks individually. This is good recording experience because it forces you to focus on what matters most, meaning mic selection and positioning and getting good source sounds, when you can still do something about it before it is recorded.
-kent
 
I use the line out from the 4-track going into the input on the soundcard. The recording will be going straight onto one track in Cubase. It is limited, but will do for now. I am saving my pennies for a better sound card. The one that gets mentioned a lot is the DELTA 44..........any good??
 
Yes. The Delta 44 is an example of an interface with multiple inputs. With something like this you could record kick drum to one track, snare another, and perhaps left and right overheads for a stereo image. The analog to digital conversion in such an interface is superior to that of a consumer/gamer card.
-kent
 
If you are only going 1 track mono into Cubase, I'd only use 1 overhead mic along with your bass drum and snare mic. A second overhead mic would not benefit you any since the end result will not be sterio anyway, and more mics means more chances to screw up phase. If your soundcard can record sterio however, I would recomend throwing that second overhead up there and recording a sterio drum mix to 2 tracks in Cubase instead of just 1.
 
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