recording drums

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brandon.w

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I have an yamaha mt8x cassete 8track...I just bought a great little pearl drum set for like 450...anyway, I also bought two condenser mics...(I needed them for accustic guitars as well)...how do I go about recording the drums? can I put the two mics straight into two of the first 4 tracks? (those are the only ones with gain knobs)...channel 8 is setereo...I'm guessing for drums, but wont I need a mic-preamp in order to use that?...thanks...
 
drum mic kits...

I've seen several drum mic kits for sale, near my budgect...they all have about 4 mics...what would I do if I were to get one of these? get a small mixer as well? put EVERY mic into my multitracker?
 
what 2mics do you have?....

usually a 4 mic setup on drums uses 1 on kick, 1 on snare, and 2 as stereo overhead mics.....
 
Stereo mixer channels are usually for stereo instruments like keyboards, drum machines, FX returns etc.
 
hmmm just two condensers...they're all I have to record with at the moment...I'll get better drum mics later...but still...especially with four drum mics....how do I get my drums into my 8track? do I put all four mics into a mixer, then into my 8track....or do I have to take up four channels on the 8track for the drums? what type of preamp do I have to put them through? do I get them down to two channels or just one? I'm completly clueless on recording drums...any examples would be of great help...
 
You'll probably want to A) put kick, snare and each overhead on seperate tracks which is the best idea... or B) get a good mix with your remaining four tracks and attempt to bounce your drums down to 2 tracks to make space or C) Get a good mix off of a board and feed it into 2 channels. IMHO, A is best, followed by B. You will need some sort of preamp for each.
For best overhead mic sound, both mics should be the same distance from the snare (use a tape measure), with the snare and kick centered in the middle when both mics are panned hard left and right. If those mics are omni pattern you may have to change your approach a little. You can get some good thump out of the kick by compressing it some on the way in and maybe cutting a little around the 315hz area, maybe alot. The snare can be ugly if not mic'ed, eq'ed, and tuned properly. Mic it with the hats in the null area of the mic. There will be much bleed and the overheads will get hats, too. If the overheads get enough snare, you can choose not to use the snare track, and your phase relationship will improve somewhat, hopefully. Or, reverse the phase and put it on the bottom of the snare for a little bit of snare sound. YMMV.
The overheads should be high enough to be above the parrallel plane of the cymbals or they might sound wishy washy. Ususally slightly above and behind the drummers head, pointing at the toms will suffice. Again, use a tape measure after you have them at 90 degree angles. Same distance from same spot on snare.
 
fabablous! thank you very much Tubedude, those are all options I had considered but didn't know if I was right...I'm just a loely musicians trying to get a basic home studio up and running. I'm not a big tech buff (thus the 8track cassette recorder) but your advice really helped me out.

-brandon.w
 
recording magazine has a article covering 6-7 drum mic kits.
 
I have been getting an awesome live sound by using only 2 ECM8000's as overheads. These things are punchy. I recorded the whole band with 2 ecm8000's as overheads and a NT3 for room ambience. Sounds pretty fat!
 
wow...just two ECM8000s as overheads for the whole set?...I learn so much from this BBS! lol.
 
what do you use for eq?...I don't have any eq at the moment...aside from my ZOOM GFX707 guitar pedal...I've heard everyone saying I need preamps too...eq boots the signal as well doesn't it?...and my connection examples in my mt8x manual say I can just plug microphones straight into it...seeing as the first four tracks have gain and 3band eq...
 
kit sound

1 mic 2mic red mic blue mic ,get the kit sounding fabo and just experiment with the place ment of the two mics but get the kit sounding good in your room and the kit will record itself.l
 
Ever had a muddy kick drum in the mix? Try this ole technique:

Before you send the Kick to tape, EQ BEFORE you compress it. On a 31-band eq, cut about 15 db at 250-315hz (you may need to experiment with these frequencies, depending on the tuning/size of the bass drum). Then send it so a compressor and then to tape.

When coming back off tape, cut an additional 15db of where you cut the frequencies going to the tape. So this is a total of 30db of cut right at the 250-315 range. Now eq the kick like you normally would, cutting/adding low or high end.

What the hell is the purpose of this? Well, this makes a huge hole in the spectrum of the kick drum where the bass guitar frequencies occupy quite nicely. Another advantage is that if you prefer a clicky type kick sound, you will not have to drive those high end faders on the eq as much because with this hole in the frequencies of the kick drum your kick drum will have much more presence in the overall mix. This is a great sound for Rock, Punk, and Metal...I would not recommend for Jazz type sounding bass drums.
 
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