Please share your knowledge with me!

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i am currently setting up a new home studio
im using a room that is about 10 foot by 10 foot
i am using a gretsch drumset
and it is tuned well
i am recording with a tascam 2488 neo
now the concerns i have are this:
at first i was planning to get a cheaper set of drum mics by CAD (the premium set with the kbm412)
but i thought long and hard about it and i have decided to get individual mics
i already have a sm57 for my snare
i am planning on getting either a shure 52 or audix d6 for my kick
i then need something to record my hi hat but that is where im stuck
and i also need a good overhead
and i think with those 4 mics i can get a pretty good recording (snare, kick, hi hat, overheads)
so does anyone have any knowledge they can share with me
i plan on getting mogami cable also, which i know is not as important but someone told me once that your recording is only as good as the weakest link in your chain
so can someone please stear me to which mics i should use and techniques on placing them and to deal with the room i am in (which will have no studio foam)
and one more thing...im on a budget..preferably $400-500 for the drum mics
thanks
 
Instead of miking the hats, try 2 overheads.

The weakest link in your chain will be your room. 10x10 square aint great, but it's doable. Tune well and play well and you're 75% there before you even touch a mic.
 
First and foremost:
Exactly what kind of music will you be recording (this is important to a few of your decisions)? The Shure 52 and the Audix D6 are both excellent kick mics but are highly colored towards that very heavy and thuddy rock beat. I recommend a pair of small diaphragm condensers set up in a coincidental stereo pair as your overheads. This will give you a good picture of your whole kit and especially the rack toms and all of your metal including the hats. I personally prefer the ATM 25 as a kick mic(around $150 new) because it is so damned versatile and gives a very uncolored signal (you can EQ it as you like). The SM57 is the industry standard for snare, so you're set there. There are other mics that will do as well, but don't bother since you already have it. I added an ATM pro 25 (this is the budget kick version of the ATM 25 and can be had for about $75) over my floor toms and it gives me the boost I like. Since I play a lot of jazz and traditional blues, I use my hats a lot and I sometimes use a Senheisser e35 (well under $100) as a dedicated hi-hat mic because it is a bright mic.
In a 10" x 10" room, I think you can feasibly get away with using only 4 mics (kick mic, snare mic and pair of overheads). Try it. If you need more, then add to it as the need arises.
 
thanks for the replies
i am looking for the more heavier type kick...more in your face..like someone hitting you in the chest...and i also want it to not sound as.."muddy"...thats just my thing..i know i cant get a proffessional studio sound on my budget and equipment..but thats the main thing im looking for is clarity
 
Get some tom mics and good luck. Read my sticky thread in this section and see if that helps.
 
thanks everyone for your replies
its appreciated
but does anyone have an opinion on mic cables?
as in...should i spend the extra on the mogami..or just get some average ones...
does it make the quality THAT much better
?
 
you probably won't hear a really big difference between cables or perhaps none at all. I make my own cables using Canare mic cable. Check out ebay and search for Canare L4E6S. There is a guy on there that sells them for about $20 a piece (15ft. mic cables). hope this helps.
 
I just use whatever cheap cables I can find. Just take care of them and they'll be fine. Don't step on, swing from, or rope cattle with them and they'll last a long time. I've got one that I've had for 20 years and it still works fine.
 
Yeah, I have tons of cables. A lot of "big name" companies and such. After a lot of time at gigs and getting pulled and stepped on, they go bad and I have to chuck them. About 10 years ago I bought 4 of these 20 foot really garish looking gold cables because they were on sale at Guitar Center. Wouldn't you know it, these hideous cables hold up real well and they are my "go to" for the strongest signal.
The biggest problem that I have with cables is at the XLR plugs. The screws back off and the connections get pulled. Keep checking to see that all of the screws and fittings are tight and don't tight coil them the way you would rope (you don't want to cause any breaking inside). Most cables work okay.
 
thank you everyone for the help once again
i think my mic dilemma has been solved
and my cable issue too
thanks
but does anyone know about the room treatment?
as in...should i just buy enough foam to cover every inch of the room?
or just put it in certain spots?
i'll be recording vocals and guitar as well
 
I wouldn't do foam. Make some actual bass traps and/or reflection diffusers. Your room size is far from ideal, so do whatever you can. I think your main problem is gonna be comb filtering with the cymbals/overheads. Read: RealTraps - Recording Spaces
 
i agree with Greg. don't do foam, get some traps. Ethan Winer has some really good articles like this one ( RealTraps - Acoustic Basics )......and here is a simple tutorial on making bass traps (YouTube - How to make a Bass Trap Acoustic Panel (Tutorial)). if you prefer an even cheaper/simpler/lazy way then do this: You construct the the bass traps by just stacking a few bags of fiberglass insulation and shoving them in the corners of your listening room. R-13 or R-19 will suffice from Lowes or Home Depot. you can get the round or square kind and just shove it in the corner and cover it up with some material. don't remove the plastic. you want it to be compact. get some cheap burlap from JoAnns or some material place and cover the insulation or buy one of these IKEA | Clothes & shoe organisers | Clothes organisers | SKUBB | Clothes tidy and shove the insulation inside it. don't remove the plastic holding the roll together. hope this helps.
 
thanks alot for the info
i've been doing some research and it seems that since my room is so small..i should "deaden" it...and i assume that means just covering the entire thing in traps. and one thing i am confused about...are bass traps(what you stick in the corner) the same as the panels you would put on the walls and ceiling? in my recent research...i have been seeing that a commonly used item is 703 or 705 compressed insulation for bass traps, and i wonder if bass traps are the same as the other absorption panels, then maybe i should just buy enough of that 705 to cover my entire studio ? can somebody help me this is the last thing i need to know. and its critical...
 
you don't have to cover the entire room. just place the bass traps in every corner. here, read this.....RealTraps - How To Set Up a Room. this should give u a good idea where to place your 2ft x 4ft panels if you use the OC 703/705.
 
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