Recording Drums?!?

J

Jeroth

New member
I am thinking of purchasing the Boss BR-532 recorder.I was just wandering how the heck i would go about recording drums, i thought about it and thaught that i could use about 3 or 4 mics and place them around the drums.If i did that how would i record each mic, but still have it as one track.Would i just use adapters to send all the mics into one track input.WHAT DO I DO!!!!

Jeroth
 
The best way would be to get a small mixer, and "pre-mix" the drums with the mixer. Then record stereo into tracks 1 & 2 (or mono into track 1).

If you can't get your hands on a mixer, I'd do 1 of the following:

- Record using 3 mics into 3 tracks: 1 on the kick, 1 on the snare, and 1 overhead. Then mix and bounce the 3 tracks to track 4 (I'm assuming the BR-532 is a 4 track). You're stuck with a mono drum track, but you then have the ability to mix it.

- Record 2 stereo overheads on tracks 1 & 2. You've got stereo, but you're stuck with whatever mix the mics pick up.

Like I said, I'd go with a small mixer if at all possible. You can then use 4 mics and do the ol' "Kick, Snare & a Pair" (of overheads) method.
 
hi jeroth!
what i've been doing for a pretty long time and i find works really well is going to radio shack and buying a little $70-$100 4 channel mixer and just connect that to one track on the recorder. you can plug in all your mics to the mixer and get the drum sound you are happy with first by adusting the levels on the mixer and such. it works really well if you're hard pressed for tracks and you can usually get a good sound out of it! hope that helps! have fun! :)
mike
p.s. good choice in recorders!
 
p.p.s. a friend of mine has one and it's a great choice for a first recorder, it's got a bass simulator and amp modeling and stuff! very cool :)
 
jeroth, go to the drum thread on this site - there are numerous discussions about drum recording (useing 2 mics vs 3 mics, etc. etc). The microphone thread is also very helpful to understand which mics work well for what.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the reply's, they really cleared a lot of things up. Another thing i wanted to ask is, I f i got the Boss BR-532, what would the use be for a mixer such as the BEHRINGER MX1604A. I thought that i could have all the instraments going into that and then into the recorder so that i could get a really good quality sound. Any other suggestions on what i NEED to get started recording music would be appreciated, such as what the is best software available(regardless of price of the software), keep all equipment at a beginners budget.

Thanks ;-)
 
You guys are really promoting some crappy gear. As a general rule when your starting out dont spend more on a cheap product than you are willing to lose forever. For some people that is $50 and for others that is $500.

There are specific products that are the best value for their class and will give you the best bang for your buck. You should also consider the resale value.

The only reason I bring this up is that once you get your studio together and spend a lot of hours working on your beloved music you will be pretty dissapointed to find that you can't even come close to the quality that you were hoping for. If you research your purchases a little more carefully you can save yourself from making costly mistakes.

Gear that you will quickly outgrow and has little resale is usually made by companies like Radio Shack, Behringer, Nady, Sampson and Peavey. There are exceptions and they all may have some surprising stand out products but they are the exception.

Companies like Mackie, Soundcraft, Allen & Heath make good entry level mixers that have professional quality performance and people will actually buy them off you when you need something bigger.
 
I second Roadkill's remarks - Over the last 20 years I've spent over $80k on gear, and the few times I've bought something either on impulse or because it was cheap, it always bit me in the ass.

BTW, the BR-532, while claiming 24 bit operation and being really quiet due to using SmartMedia instead of a hard disk, can NOT record on all tracks simultaneously. According to Roland, it can RECORD up to TWO tracks at once, and playback FOUR.

If you really think you're going to get serious about recording your own music, save the $400 you would spend on the BR-532 until you have enough for something you won't grow out of in two weeks. Instead, spend part of that money on a couple of good books on recording, or just hang out here and stay in "sponge mode" (soak up everything you can, except posts by tyler657recpro...) Then, when you get smart enough to know how little you know, ask questions and LISTEN to the answers. Also, NEVER assume a piece of gear will do something just because you think it should be able to. (Re-read my first paragraph)

If you're thinking about a 4-track porta-studio, what software are you talking about?

If you want to "keep everything at a beginner's budget", consider this: the less money you have, the less you have to waste on crap that won't satisfy you 15 minutes after you take it out of the box and that nobody wants to buy from you used, even at half what you paid for it. That's my $.02 worth, based on $80,000 worth of experience. I know GearLust can be an evil siren, but try to plug your ears long enough to think about what TexRoadkill and I said. The worst that can happen is you'll get even more for your money by waiting, and you might end up buying something you'll actually want to keep... Steve
 
Tex & Knightfly,

I wouldn't disagree with the points you guys made (Tex, I almost never disagree with your comments). They're solid points that shouldn't be scoffed at - you get what you pay for, buy cheap buy twice. I've learned those lessons myself more times than I'd like to think about.

However, I do remember being a kid in the early days with my first 4 track. My eyes were gleaming just thinking about what I could do with this thing. If someone I trusted had told me that I needed to spend another 2-5 grand or my creations would all be crap, I would have been discouraged. I may have even said "forget it, I don't have that kind of money or patience for all this". I'd hate to see that happen to anybody with fresh fire in their eyes.

My little white-trash studio served me well in the early days - I learned a lot from it (I think many of us did). ...and of course, my creations DID sound like crap compared to what I'm doing now, but they were important stepping stones. Hell, I'm sure in 5-10 years I'll scoff at what I have now :)

...just food for thought, and hopefully a bit of encouragement for fresh recording minds.
 
Sean, thank you for saying something that I wanted to say, but in a way that was much more polite and rational than how I would have ended up saying it.
 
As usual, there are two sides to every coin - I agree that a cheap something is better than a more expensive "nothing", if that really is the only two choices. BUT, if the two of you will re-read this thread, you'll see where someone recommended recording THREE tracks of drums on a machine that can only record TWO tracks at a time. That's the main point I was trying to make, about being disappointed with something 15 minutes after you take it out of the box. If Jeroth had bought the BR-532 thinking he could follow the advice of someone who doesn't have a BR-532 and didn't take the time to look up its capabilities, he would have been probably as sorry as he would be not having anything. At least, with nothing but money you're saving, you still have the money. I know not everybody can start out with an SSL board and a 32 track Mitsubishi DASH recorder or two - hell I still could use a few of those if anybody out there is throwing some away :=) What I AM saying is KNOW WHAT YOU'RE BUYING. Then, if you still can't wait, at least you'll know what you're getting, and why it can't do some of the new things you learned about yesterday...

As far as "saying things more polite and rational", try to remember as you mature, that people you piss off tend to not want to help you any more. In the years I've spend in technical customer service, the rational customers were always the ones I "went that extra mile" for. The others got just what they asked for, no more. And if I hadn't cared about losing the job, they would have gotten even less. Guess what? Nobody's getting paid here - how much do you think you can piss me off for free?

Before you lose it and start the flame, think about this from the other side of things - would YOU want to help someone who tried to hurt you, or would you either walk away or bash them in the head with a rock?

BTW, none of this was said in anger - you DIDN't lose it and say stuff that didn't help, you only thought about it. I merely pointed out that you made a good choice... Steve
 
What I AM saying is KNOW WHAT YOU'RE BUYING. Then, if you still can't wait, at least you'll know what you're getting, and why it can't do some of the new things you learned about yesterday...
Click to expand...

Point(s) taken. (I hope they're also taken by the guy who's hoping to buy the BR-532)

Incidentally, I'm the guy who suggested 3 tracks as one of the possibilities ...my bad - I didn't even think about it.

The comments I made were more philosophical about being careful not do discourage - no flamestarters intended whatsoever - that's why I dropped the kudos at the top of the post.

By the way, I did (and still do some) tech support too ...and there have been days I wanted to bash myself in the head with a rock :D
 
It's important to know the limitations of your setup. You are often forced to make creative or technical sacrifices when dealing with limited studio setups.

I would rather do live to tape on a high quality 2 track system than cram 10 different bounced parts on a crappy 4 track. Dont think of technical limitations as a setback but as a creative challenge. Learn to arrange your songs so that they fit your technical abilities.

I know everyone wants to rush out and buy a portastudio so they can record a 4 piece band with full drums but it rarely comes out as anticipated unless you are EXTREMELY skilled at engineering.

FWIW the Roland Studio Pack is hands down the best bang for the buck in a all in one solution for under $700 if you already have a PC. I picked one up to record song demos while I take my time to spec out a $15,000 budget studio and I have been amazed at the quality. The only limitation is 2 on board preamps but you can add some cheap ones if you need them.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the amount o reply's, i have taken all of them into account.And i am going to start doing for research of the specs of the products i want to but.

Jeroth
 
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