Stupid question about effectracks and multichannel recording

[_ronin75_]

I know this prob the dumbest question ever but
I was just wandering ..

if you want to record a drumset d'you need like several compressors and reverb / fx units and record the whole thing in real time , of will one of each do
and dyou record the thing and apply all the necesary effects later when tracking is done ?
and is there reasonably good software to do this with ?

 

[tmix]

You CAN use compressors on the front end of recording, just to tame the recording level a little, but you don't have to.

After the drum tracks are recorded most software multitrack programs have software limiters and effects you can assign each track to give you the ability to do what you need after the fact.

There are heated debates as to which sounds better, hardware units or software units, but thats a "whole nuther story"

 

[_ronin75_]

But I guess you might want to use some amount of compression "on the front end" to equalize the dynamics a bit and avoid clipping right ?

 

[Track Rat]

Personally, if anything, a limiter to controll hard peaks.

 

[iwanarock]

I personally always record the Drums Dry first and then add any effects needed after the fact. First if you record WET drums you can never go back and change the amount of effects you applied if somewhere in the recording process you need to change them. I also like to Mic all the drums seperately as well as using overhead mics so I can then go bring definition out of each drum or Cymbals using EQ and Dynamic processors such as compressor or expanders or Limiters. And finally I will apply reverb, but not always and not always to every drum.