Rec'ing drums with what I got- suggestions

[blondeguild]

I'm recording demo tracks with my band. Not anything to send out really, just to get experience in mic'ing instruments. The drumset has a kick, snare, tom, floor tom, and cymbals. I have an SM-57, MXL 990, MXL 991, another cheap Shure Mic with an XLR connection, and assorted cheap RadioShack-type microphones. What mic's would you put on which drums?

Additionally, I'm recording onto a Yamaha AW16G Audio Workstation with two XLR inputs and a bunch of TRS inputs. I also have a mixer with four channels with XLR's. Would it be better to just run mics straight into the AW16G or run a few into the mixer, and then run the mixer output into the AW16G? Thanks for any tips.

 

[seryozha]

First off, you should, SHOULD, be able to get an okay sound out of that setup.

My first question is; how are you recording? DaW? What kind of sound card if so.


I would experiment with mic placement. Depending on room acoustics and drum tuning, you may need to take a day (week) to get a good mic placment.

I would definatly use the MXL as an overhead. The only prob. will be the bass drum. might wanna try that other MXL near it.Sm-57 could also very well work.

AS for the mixers, Im not sure of the specs but if one mixer has "main inserts" you can just "piggy back" the other mixer so you can have both mixers acting as one, basically. But the limitation will be if your recording to just a two channel sound card. In that case, i would try to work with just two mics.I.E. not mixing mutiple mics down to just two channels. One OVH and one kick mic. should be okay.

Have fun.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Does that AW16G have 4 preamps, or do you have other mic pres? If not it's an option to use the pres on the other mixer and run 4 outputs from that into 4 of the AW16G TRS inputs.

Are those MXLs both condensors? If so, use them overhead, put the sm57 on the snare, and the other shure on the kick. If you have inputs/preamps to spare you could throw another couple of mics on the toms, but you should be able to get a perfectly usable drum sound from 4 mics

 

[Garry Sharp]

The AW16G has 8 pre's, but they are not very good - they don't offer much gain. Depending on the quality of your mixer, you might do better to run all your mic's into it and then into the AW with the gain trims all the way down.