Recording Drums

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fita

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I've been tinkering around with recording some demo's with my Yamaha DTX.

Now, I went through my live phase with this gadget. Remember, panning the Kick hard left, the Snare hard right, etc.

Well now I was thinking about recording in stereo. I would do this by internally panning the drums and then running them into my MK 488 II via the Left and Right outputs. Is this correct? I will be using channel 1 and 2 for the inputs. Do I pan the channels on the board or do I leave them in the middle?

Also, is there any advantage to recording stereo? Does this really matter?

Also, I record the tracks dry. I try to set the eq and reverb internally, then I tweak on the board if needed. Is this a smart idea or does it matter?

Thanks for all those that help! I appreciate your input.
 
I must be totally whacked!

C'mon, is this that foreign.

Ok! Maybe it is, then tell me this....How in the heck should I go about recording these dogs?

a. Split the 4 outs into channel 1-4, thereby seperating kick, snare, toms, cymbals/aux percussion. If I do this, what is the "correct" way to pan the channels on the console?

2. Run stereo out the Main R & L, into channel 1 and 2 or use a "y" connector and run both outs into channel 1. Internally pan. Hey that sounds like a keeper, I may have answered my own question!

D. Turn of my computer, I am wasting valuable practicing time!

Well as you can tell I am no way a mental giant when it comes to the studio or playing live. I know if I tinker with this enough I will get it, but the help from someone who actually knows how to record drums would point me in the right direction.

Thanks again for the help, then again nobody helped me!
 
I did a internet search to find out what a yamaha DTX was. It's an electronic drum kit correct? Anyway, what's the rest of your track plan? Guitars, Bass, Vocals etc. If can adjust the panning and the volume of the different parts of the kit, internally (i.e. within the drum module)- then I'd try using just 2 inputs on the 488. Pan the overheads internally, 9:00 and 3:00 or however you like, pan the toms accordingly. Leave kick and snare in the middle. Send the L/R output of the drum module into 2 inputs of the 488 and pan them hard left and right, during playback. Will take a few run throughs to get the levels set right on the module, but I think that could work. You won't be able to effect individually though, maybe the module has built in effects?

It says on the website that it has 4 outputs, if your just recording drums you could send out kick and snare to inputs 1 and 2 on the 488, and an internally module/mixed overheads, and toms out of 3 and 4 of the module, to input 3 and 4 on the 488. During playback, Pan 1-kick and 2-snare - center, 3 and 4 which is the left & right overhead/tom mix - pan these hard left/right. If your computer is capable of recording, you could transfer this into a 2 track editor, like goldwave or something (after effecting/EQing on the 488 to your liking) and then send it back out to inputs 1 and 2 of the 488 (erasing 1 - 4) This would leave you 3 and 4 to add something else on.
 
Thanks!

Thanks for going through so much trouble to get info, I do appreciate, maybe one day I can reciprocate.

I am very unsavy when it comes to recording. I just got into this and now I find it occupies most of my time.

In regards to what track I am laying down now. I have suquenced tracks in my keyboard,(keys, aux percussion, synth sounds, bass), then guitar and voc's.

Since I am so green at this, why do I pan left right on my overheads and toms during playback? When recording, where should they be?

I have 27 minutes until work ends, then I'm off to try this! So your work will not go unused.

Later, Have a great weekend!
 
If the DTX has an onboard sequencer then you could record your perfomance as midi,then you can twiddle with the sounds even change the kit thats playing whilst syncing to the keyboard sequencer.
This way you wouldn`t have to commit your drums to tape until you had the whole track recorded.

If you are not sure how to do any of this ,ie sync the keyboard sequencer to the DTX module sequencer then let me know and i`ll go into more detail.

hope this helps
 
Thanks E drummer

I was wondering when you would get to this thread, what kind of rig are you running and how do you go about recording and playing live?

The DTX does have a sequencer, I sequenced the drum trax to a song. I am going to experiment tonite with programming drum tracks to the bass and chord tracks, but that's another headache alltogether. I also picked up a Yamaha QX3 sequencer today, so I'll be wasting my weekend on that thing.

I got a "y" plug, two inputs to one stereo out tonite. I panned everything internally in my dtx and dumped it to channel 1 on my Tascam. I tweaked the eq slightly. I am going to mix the drum tracks to see how they came out, so far so good. It does suck that I can't raise or lower the snare or the kick if I need to.

I keep wondering if I really do need to pan internally? What would the reason be? I'll try the track that way if I have time tonite.

Thanks again for the input!
 
Re: Thanks E drummer

fita said:


I got a "y" plug, two inputs to one stereo out tonite. I panned everything internally in my dtx and dumped it to channel 1 on my Tascam. I tweaked the eq slightly. I am going to mix the drum tracks to see how they came out, so far so good. It does suck that I can't raise or lower the snare or the kick if I need to.

I keep wondering if I really do need to pan internally? What would the reason be? I'll try the track that way if I have time tonite.

Thanks again for the input!
Click to expand...

Why not just leave all your sequenced stuff as "virtual tracks", until you go to two tracks?


Tim
 
The kitlist is as follows.
Roland V-Drum Pro kit
Roland TDW-1 expansion card for TD10
Roland KD120 Bass drum pad.
PIII 500Mhz pc 128MB ram 1 GB ide HD
Guillemot isis soundcard 4 in 8 out.
Mackie 1202 mixer.
Cubase VST 32
Cool edit 2000.
yamaha QY300

Ive never gigged the V-Pro kit and have no intention of doing so as I haven`t played in a band for a few years.
Now and then I get together with a few friends and well have a jam but we just do it at my house.
If I,m recording the V-Drums for loops then i`ll have an idea of what i want to play and i`ll program a song on the QY300 that has the right feel and i`ll just loop it till its about five mins long.
Then I`ll just play for 2 or three mins and see what happens .
I tend to do all the recording in cool edit 2000 as i find
this just so damn easy to use.
I only ever record the stereo output from the TD10 and I never try to seperate the drums even though the soundcard has four ins and the vdrums have 4 stereo outs.
Regarding the panning of the kits I tend to leave them as they are as the settings of most of the kits in the TD10 seem fine to my ears but if your interested heres the actual
settings.

The pan range is L15 to centre to R15

Kick : centre
Snare : centre
tom1 : L8
Tom 2 : L3
Tom 3 : R3
Tom 4 : R8
Hi hat : L4
Crash 1: L5
Crash 2: R5
Ride : R4

I`m no expert at recording but personally if I were recording with your kit heres what i`d do.
I`d do the sequenced part on the keyboard first as I find playing drums to nothing but a click can make the drums sound sterile.So i`d be recording the drums to the keyboards sequencer or the DTX sequencer synced to the keyboard(or the new yamaha you have),but i`d be playing along with the keyboard.
Its at this stage where studios using tape would normaly "stripe" the tape , meaning that they record a sync track to tape so that the tape player is controlling the tempo.The beauty of this is that all the sequenced tracks don`t need to be recorded until you are ready to record the
master.You dont mention having this so you are going to have to commit the sequenced stuff to tape.Personally i would just record the output of the keyboard and the dtx to a stereo track pluging the dtx into channels 1 + 2 ,the keyboard into 3 + 4 but only recording on 1 + 2.
Another option if the DTX has a mix in input is to route the keyboard audio through the DTX and then you can also record a guitar or sing or whatever whilst recording the sequenced stuff .
You now have just one stero track with all the drums and every thing the keyboard is playing and also a vocal or a guitar playing and youve still got two tracks left.

Have you considered getting an Audio sequencer for your computer there are some pretty cheap ones about.
Even the demo of an expensive one will give you more control than you have with the Tascam.
And theres also a free version of pro tools le that you can download.
all the best
steve
 
E-Drummer!

Thanks for the hookup.

I have been fooling with all of the above mentioned ways today. I mixed down a version I did, two outs from the DTX to Channel 1 and 2. I didn't pan inside the DTX, I left everything at 0, then I hard panned channel 1 to the left and 2 to the right. It sounds fat and full. I added a lot of reverb internally and left the eq's in the middle on my 488.

After I half way figure out what I am doing, I am going to try using Cakewalk, I have the pro audio 8. But I don't really know what gear to get. I have little computer knowledge, what type of soundcard? How do I hook my drums up, plug them straight into my tower?

Well thanks everyone for input. I'll keep plugging away, if you have an other helpful hints let me know!

PS
I bought Orgy's latest "Vapor Transmission" since the drummer uses the Roland kit. His drums sound awesome, I need to get in touch with that guys tech or find out how he recorded.
 
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