Recording Drumkit via Mixer Method

[soulfulvirtuoso]

Guys,

i planning to record a drumkit on my PC using an analog mixer (atleast 8 channels) with one stereo out. Which means that i'd only get a one stereo signal for the entire drumkit in my soundcard since i only have one line in. Thus, one track on my multitracking software for the entire kit. I know that using a multi channel preamp through an audio interface with multi mic inputs is still your best bet because of its flexibility to give you seperate tracks for each drums. But is there anyway i could a decent drum sound using this method?

 

[mrT]

Nothing wrong with it but I'd do the drums last so you can get the mix as good as you can... cause if you're sending it to stereo there's no going back for mixing.

 

[james123]

Guys,

i planning to record a drumkit on my PC using an analog mixer (atleast 8 channels) with one stereo out. Which means that i'd only get a one stereo signal for the entire drumkit in my soundcard since i only have one line in. Thus, one track on my multitracking software for the entire kit. I know that using a multi channel preamp through an audio interface with multi mic inputs is still your best bet because of its flexibility to give you seperate tracks for each drums. But is there anyway i could a decent drum sound using this method?

If I was you (which im not ) i would try and use less mics as possible as you can not go back to change something you dont like (for example if the floor tom too loud its gonna stay too loud) and as some else mentioned try and get it sounding good before you record as you wont be able to do much after it is recorded.

 

[Dan Moore]

What you could do is create separate tracks for separate passes of drums. For example, do one record pass where you just play kick and snare, and have those on their own track. Then, start over and do the hi hat. Then the overheads. Or you could even do one drum per pass, and start with the Hi Hat, and then the kick, then the snare, etc....you get the point. In computer land, there rarely is a limitation in track count and therefore you could have dozens of tracks, all separate and available for editing and isolated mixing.

But you're always going to be limited when sub-mixing to tape, which is what you're doing. This way you don't have to buy a another product but rather can use what you have and have more flexibility. The only drawback is you can't really "rock out" like you would if you were tracking all drums live on a single record pass.

The only other solution is to get a multi-channel I/O device for your computer. Those are getting cheaper by the day and would work well with a small analog mixer, if you take the insert point or direct out from each channel and give it its' own pathway into the recording software.

Hope this helps, DM

 

[soulfulvirtuoso]

OK got that guys. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Rickson Gracie]

i tried this using one of those little yamaha mixers into an mbox and the results were less than steller.

i goty a MUCH better result using the pres in the mbox and just puting a mic on the snare and kick. i bet a good stereo overhead into the two stereo channels would work better too.

the problem is that youre using cheap ass preamps in the mixer as opposed to decent ones in your interface.

 

[amra]

All I can say is if you are gonna do it this way, be sure you get the EQ sounding just the way you want for each seperate track before you record the mixdown.

Once you have a drum submix, you cannot EQ anything without effecting everything else. You know you have to have the levels right, but do not forget about EQ, because you can't do much after the fact.

 

[jmxdrummer]

the only problem with recording drums through the mixer is that there is no turning back. I usually record the drums with a min of 5 tracks, that way I can go back eq, compress or what ever to the each track.

 

[breeeeza]

i do this and i use 7 mics 2 o/h 1 bass 3 toms 1 snare. i get my brother to play a beat for ages and i mix it as best i can whilst he is playing. as everyone else said there is no going back afterthat but untill i have wayyyy more money im happy doing it this method.

 

[formerlyfzfile]

Depending on the over all music ...... if you feel that a mono drum track will work for you, then you could use one channel for the main drum mix and then the other for ..... say the kick ....or the snare ...by itself. That would give give you at least a little post tracking flexibility. If its heavier music then having the kick on a seperate track may prove sonically more valuble than having a stereo drum mix.

I've had to submix drums on a few projects and its not easy because you can spend a night tweaking the kit's submix by itself only to find out in the context of the mix the snare is getting burried or more often the kick or toms.

Another variation for a multiple mic set up would be to send a straight mix to one chanel mono and then send a submix of all close mics drums through a compression chain and send the compressed submix to the other channel for fattening up the drums in a dense mix............... OR as I ended up doing after the 1st time submixing a full mic'd kit .... do a parallell compressed submix, but bring it up under the main mix sent to one mono channel and then send the kick by itself to the other channel..... but you would want a little less compression or at least a little less compressed submix in the overall mix as you cant change it later.

Also depending ..... I got a real nice recording with just two mics on the kit. 1 GT MD1B tube in front of the kit about 2 feet ....right at about snare height and slightly off to the tom's side ..... and then one M179 (cardiod) behind the drummer just above head height over his left shoulder pointing across the snare.

Peanuts on Ice is the tune with this 2 mic set up.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=74687763



When faced with these kind of limitations then time and patience and a LOT of experimentation are key.

-mike