Recording Drums

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musicsdarkangel

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Alright, I will probably have an omnistudio card soon, which is great, and has inputs (woopdydoo). But, for now, I have this crappy Project Card. I have only one mic input. How should I record drums if I mic drums with 3 or 4???? I might get a new mic, but now I have 3. The thing is, I'm wondering if I use splitters for this sound card, if it will sound like crap. Err I haven't tried yet, but does it introduce noise??? ANd is there a way that when I record different mics on the drums, that I can put one part of the set per track and then merge em??

Thank you guys for all your help (if you give me some, if you don't, thanks anyway)...hmmmmm how do you...ahhh i see.................. :cool: oooooo :eek:
 
You are going to need a mixer, mix and EQ the drums and record the whole kit as a stereo pair into the card's line input.
 
just 1 mic

try one mic (sm58)lying on the ground around two feet (60cm) in front of the kit and just of to one side(the side that the snare drum is on). i have done this with 4 track machines and even on more expensive digital machines. i recorded some drums then listened to it if i wasnt happy i just moved the mic a bit and repeated the process then added some comp for punch. when recording remember to concentrate on even hitting be as consistant as you can this is one of the big secrets of drum recording get as good and solid performance as you can , and just keep moving that mic till your satisfied you will never get a truly fantastic sound but you might surprise yourself (less is more)
 
hey, do you angle it at all?

How do you capture the cymbals?
 
Get an adapter that goes from 2 mono 1/4 inch to a single 1/8 inch stereo to use 2 mics....if you dont have 2 VERY similar mics (preferably same model), just use 1.....

For positioning, I would try somewhere right out in front of the top of the kick drum pointed toward the snare...if possible, have someone play while you move your head around in that area until you find a really balanced spot and put the mic right there (no Im not on drugs).....

when mixing, you can duplicate the track and sculpt it to get what you need....if you find you didnt get enough cymbal in the original track, take one of the tracks and filter out all of the lows and boost up above 5k a tad and blend that in with the original.....but you really want to get a good kick/snare balance in the original and as good amount of cymbals as possible....

lastly, what mic(s) and what are you using between the mic and soundcard?....
 
NOTHING!...DID YOU SAY NOTHING?....:eek:

lets hope that Omni gets here soon.....
 
Yes, definitly get a mixer to hold you over until you get your Omni, even one of those $99 Behringer or Nady mixers would be better than "NOTHING!!" :D

And is there a way that when I record different mics on the drums, that I can put one part of the set per track and then merge em??
Click to expand...

Yes, you can record to separate 2 tracks if the input on your card is stereo (and also make sure that it works, my "stereo input" would only record on the left side for some reason). When you get your mixer you can run two cables off of you main outs to a Y-cable then connect that to a "stereo" (very important that it IS stereo) 1/4" to 1/8" connector then into your soundcard. Or you can run 1 cable from a stereo aux send/monitor out and plug that into a stereo 1/4 to 1/8" connector and into your soundcard.

Now you have the choice to either record your whole kit in stereo (overheads hard L/R, kick & snare C). To do this pan all the drums the way you want them to be recorded on the mixer and then in your recording program set up two tracks; one to record the left side of the input and the other to record the right side. But when you record they will be played back "centered", so when you playback, pan those tracks hard right and left and you will have your "stereo drumkit".

You can also pan your kit to get "separation" when you record (the kick mic on one track and the rest of the kit on the other track). You may want the kick on a different track than the rest of the kit so you can EQ and mix this one separately, as the kick is usually the one to get drowned out when placed in a mix. So to do this, pan all the "kit mics" (exept for the kick) hard left, then pan the kick hard right, then in your recording program set up 2 tracks one to record the right side and one to record the left. Now when you record everything will be played back "centered" and the kick and "kit" will be on separate tracks.

Hope that helps :)

-tkr
 
Tekker,

with all due respect, $99 for the Behringer is a waste and only keeping him $99 away from getting something decent......just wait it out for the Omni.....
 
:)




:) :) ........................................... :) ............. :)



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA .......... :) ........ AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....... I HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO GET THE OMNI FINALLY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. :)
 
MDA,
In that case, disregard my last post. :D

Gidge,
Not neccessarily, if I didn't aready have my mixer (a bigger Behringer :D) before I started into recording, I would rather have had ANYTHING (even that cheap small Behringer), than having nothing to mix the mics into, and also having to use the preamps in the soundcard (even the Behringer's pres are better than the soundcard's). But "only" if I knew that it would be a while before I could get something better. I'd settle for not having the best quality if it meant that I could be recording in the mean time. And besides you can just about always find some use for old equipment, even if it's just for a headphone mixer for when recording a band live. But apperantly MDA was just inches away from getting the Omni, so that would have been a bad move for him when he "that close" to getting it.

-tkr
 
Tekker, thats the kicker...hes SOOOOOO close to the Omni....and since he's ALMOST 16, $99 is hard to come by.....

And since he only has 1 real mic, he should be recording his guitar with the line out of his Crate amp plugged into the line in of his soundcard.....could probably get away with doing a bass thru that amp also, just use the line out only, not the speaker.....also, while you are at it, plug that sm57 into the clean channel of the amp and do the same line out to the line in of soundcard and do drums and vocals that way......
 
3 MICS:

1 dead center overhead
1 on snare
1 in kick

4 MICS:
2 overheads
1 on snare
1 on kick

I just recorded with 8 mics and 4 used like I listed actually give a great sound if EQ'd correctly.
 
I used to lay a mic (58) on a pillow, on the floor, in between the snare and the bass, and send that to a 4 track when I was in high school. I listen to those songs every once in a while and am still amazed.

Now the least amount I'll go is an overhead, a snare, and a bass mic. Preferably two overheads. For most 5 piece drum kits, the left one will look at the hats, snare, left cymbal and rack tom(s). The right one will look at the second cymbal, ride, and floor tom. Knock out a little around 400 and boost around 2.5K and 10K. I say this pretty subjectively. So don't do this. Do something that actually sounds good. ;)

meh...one too many martinis....
 
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