Recording real drums with Audiophile

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Ishtar69

New member
I'm using Sonar XL 2.0 with an Audiophile 2496 sound card. We used to record drums using my friend's Roland drum kit, but now we want to use a real drum set. The problem we have is that the sound card only has 2 inputs (from my understanding at least).

One idea we had was to trigger the drum skins onto a Roland V-drum brain and then mic the cymbals. That way, the drums are recorded via MIDI instead of through the inputs, therefore saving the sound card inputs for the cymbal mics.

It would be easier and preferable for us to record the drums as if we're recording in a real studio--that is, mic everything (about 8 mics we think). But the limiting factor is the number of sound card inputs. We'd like to have an individual track for each drum and cymbal, but we're willing to compromise and combine some into one track (like toms into one, cymbals into one, etc...).

Short of buying more sound cards, what else can we do to record a real drum kit with our existing equipment?
 
Just record each drum, snare, etc. individually.

Just record each drum, snare, etc. individually, then paste them within your audio tracks in sonar.


I do the same thing with pre-recorded samples (ie. Platinum Drums) The end result sounds good and is quite mixable. (You put different drums on different tracks for separate panning, effects, etc.
 
Good idea ted. The key is to use a click track while you're doing it and hope that your drummer has good timing. He'll have to play the same song a few times exactly the same (or really close) for it to line up right but unless you use an external mixer (which will not let you mex the tracks afterwards) it's the only way to do it with your setup. The only snag is you're going to get some bleed from the other drums. If you are recording the snare for example, you will definately hear all te other drums. Of course they won't be as loud, and they should blend right in when you record the other drums, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Maybe it's time to upgrade to a sound card with more inputs.
 
Setup one or two overhead mics in a good place to capture the whole kit. Compress it a bit and you will have a good punchy drum sound (assuming the kit, room and player are good). Then if you need to add in a bit more kick or snare you can use the midi drums and overdub another take and just record the electronic kick and snare to their own tracks. Make sure it grooves perfectly with the acoustic track. Many commercial albums use kick/snare samples anyway.
 
Or go for mono: one condenser mic about 4-6 feet above the snare drum, another condenser mic 4-6 feet in front of the kit at about the height of the middle of the kick drum. Compress to taste...
 
I would get one stereo preamp with analog outs and one stereo preamp with S/PDIF outs.....that would give you 4 inputs to the soundcard.....you could do kick,snare, and stereo overheads......the key to getting a good sound this way is using the right mics with the right positioning......many people here use a 3 or 4 mic technique and the sound is awesome.....
 
ah...I have a Roland V-session set. The term "real drums" is thrown around way to much in the acoustic circle. Is an electric guitar not a "real" guitar?
Anyway, bitching aside, just wonder what kind of Roland "non real" drums you were using before you decide to go with "real" drums? ( the "P.C." term for "real drums" would be "A" drums, by the way )
 
Ishtar69 said:
One idea we had was to trigger the drum skins onto a Roland V-drum brain and then mic the cymbals. That way, the drums are recorded via MIDI instead of through the inputs, therefore saving the sound card inputs for the cymbal mics. [/B]
Click to expand...

Wait, I'm a little confused. Why not just use Roland V-drums to record midi, and mike the cymbals, why bother going thru the trouble to use A's to trigger the brain? Just what is it that you are not happy with when it comes to the V-drums?
 
we don't have the rubber pads. we only have the TD-8 brain. plus, my drummer is more used to his own kit than the V-drum kit.
 
Oh, ok, makes sense then. Those little square pads are a bitch. And I wouldn't use the electronic cymbals on anything less than the TD-10 expanded TDW-1. Electronic drums have come a long way, and can sound just as good (if not better than) A's, but they are not for everyone, and they are not always easier to record. If I only had the room I would have a set of A's in addition to my V-sessions. (...and I'm not even a drummer!)
 
Ishtar69 said:
I'm using Sonar XL 2.0 with an Audiophile 2496 sound card. We used to record drums using my friend's Roland drum kit, but now we want to use a real drum set. The problem we have is that the sound card only has 2 inputs (from my understanding at least).
Click to expand...

The Audiophile should be able to record 4 tracks at once. 2 analog and 2 digital(I never tried this, but I'm almost sure it'll work). If you could get you hands on a decent A/D converter, you could record 4 tracks at once. Something like 1 Kick, 2 Snare, 3-4 Submix of tom mics and overheads.
 
Or you could get your hands on a mixer, where you could mic the drums with however many mics you like, and record the two channel sub-mix...

Of course, you're limited to the levels you set, but it is nice in that the mixer should also have mic pre's on all the inputs, so that will cover you there, too.

-mg
 
Toker41 said:
ah...I have a Roland V-session set. The term "real drums" is thrown around way to much in the acoustic circle. Is an electric guitar not a "real" guitar?
Click to expand...

Not when it's played through a POD. :D
 
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