Recording Electric Drums
- Thread starter crzywvguy
- Start date
Buck62
噛んでくれ
I have a set of e-drums and have recorded them many times.
One thing you should definitely do is record them as dry as possible and add the reverb later. Also, make sure the pans are set up properly to sound like a mic'd acoustic kit. Not extreme panning, but just enough to sound as if the toms are going from one side to the other, but just mildly. If you need to pan a bit extra you can do it when you mix. Keep the kick and snare straight up center and be aware that if you pan too much during the mixing phase, you'll lower the volume of the kick and snare, which is usually not a good thing since you can't make volume adjustments on them after you've recorded. In other words, get the drums to sound as good as possible (but dry) before you record them. Make sure the volume level on each pad (drum) is where you want it to be. Keep the hi-hat slightly to the right or left of the snare (depending on which way the kit is set up) so it sounds natural.
Cymbals are the easiest thing to pick out as "fake" on any set of e-drums, so you need to set the decay properly so they ring kind of long. Otherwise, with a short decay (ring time) they'll sound totally hokey and will make for a cheap-sounding recording. Choose cymbals that sound more "real", especially if you're going to use a ride cymbal. Use medium to large crash cymbals, because the small crash cymbals sound too thin and abrasive on an e-kit.
As they say in China....
Good Ruck!
One thing you should definitely do is record them as dry as possible and add the reverb later. Also, make sure the pans are set up properly to sound like a mic'd acoustic kit. Not extreme panning, but just enough to sound as if the toms are going from one side to the other, but just mildly. If you need to pan a bit extra you can do it when you mix. Keep the kick and snare straight up center and be aware that if you pan too much during the mixing phase, you'll lower the volume of the kick and snare, which is usually not a good thing since you can't make volume adjustments on them after you've recorded. In other words, get the drums to sound as good as possible (but dry) before you record them. Make sure the volume level on each pad (drum) is where you want it to be. Keep the hi-hat slightly to the right or left of the snare (depending on which way the kit is set up) so it sounds natural.
Cymbals are the easiest thing to pick out as "fake" on any set of e-drums, so you need to set the decay properly so they ring kind of long. Otherwise, with a short decay (ring time) they'll sound totally hokey and will make for a cheap-sounding recording. Choose cymbals that sound more "real", especially if you're going to use a ride cymbal. Use medium to large crash cymbals, because the small crash cymbals sound too thin and abrasive on an e-kit.
As they say in China....
Good Ruck!