Recording drums on a 4 track. Best option?

D

Druw

New member
I'm going to be getting a Tascam Porta One.
For recording drums, to reduce the hassle of bouncing tracks, will it be good to buy a mixer to have the drums going straight to one track?
Or,
Record the drums seperately then mix on computer.

The problem with option 2 is I'm not sure how I would transfer it to the computer.
Thanks for any help.
 
Using a Tascam Porta One would be redundant and it would add noise and distortion. If you are going to buy a mixer anyway then just run the mixers L+R outs into the computer and record the drums in stereo. IMO that is the best way if you don't have a soundcard with multiple inputs.
 
ocnor's right. Grab yourself a small mixer and an inexpensive recording soundcard from M-Audio, (Audiophile 24/96, or Delta 44, or Delta 1010lt) and you'll be good to go. And get better results.
 
The problem is, where the drums will be is nowhere near the computer, and moving it is not an option.
So the Tascam is useless for drums?
 
Druw said:
I'm going to be getting a Tascam Porta One.
For recording drums, to reduce the hassle of bouncing tracks, will it be good to buy a mixer to have the drums going straight to one track?
Or,
Record the drums seperately then mix on computer.

The problem with option 2 is I'm not sure how I would transfer it to the computer.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

Depens on how many mic's you're using on the drums. If it's just bass/kick and two overheads, which can work pretty well, just record the four tracks, and transfer it 2 by 2 to the computer using the recording outputs to the minijack line-in of your soundcard. Syncing the tracks up might be a problem because of tape slip etc., but I'm sure it will do fine.
 
Thanks F_cksia. I will probably be using 3 to 4 mics. I might mic the snare. I suppose the advantages of doing it this way is having it in stereo, correct?
 
I'm not familiar specifically with the portaone, but can't you just route the 4 inputs to your destination track, i.e. use the porta as your mixer, recording 4 channels to only to one or two tracks? That is definately possible on the 424 series.
 
I love recording drums to my cassette 4-track. Yes the sound is sorta low-fi, but if done well, the results are surprisingly good. Plus you get that tape sound.
Try various 3-mic techniques. The toughest part is making sure the mics are set just right so that they are all in phase with each other.
 
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