uno problemo...

  • Thread starter Thread starter salvetem
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salvetem

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Hi ya'll. Ive been reading this board for a while but have rarely contributed as my knowlage is sooooooo limited. But i am back again to pick your brains if youd be so kind. Right, so we want to record drums as best as possible with relatively limited resorses. So what i have is, an sm57, SP B1, sennheiser e835, audiobuddy mic pre, and a behringer mixer. |c=. the thing is tho, ive been using the mixer as a headphone amp just now as i only had 2 mics(going into the audiobuddy), but now that ive got a new one we think it'd be better to use a mic for the snare, bass drum, and 1 overhead but we'll need to use the mixers pre-amps which would contribute to the tracks noise and everything. So what do you think would be the best arangements of mics etc. Also, my soundcard is an audiowerk 2, with only 2 line ins...hmm..this is a bit dire... should we stick with 2 mics?? ach.. i dunno.. any help would be appreciated. muchos thanks.
Kev
 
I'd stick the B1 either out front (for an audience perspective), or near the Drummer. As for the other two I'd try the E835 on the Kick and the SM57 on Snare (the SM57's Frequency response starts falling below 200 hz, dipping down to -5dB at 100 and -10 at 50. Can't tell what the E835 does in that area as the chart's kind of blurry. But it doesn't look too bad.) Alternatively sell the E835 and put the money towards a Pro25 from Audio-Technica :)
 
cheers mark, but what's your take on the amplification options? Would it be best to just use an overhead and a mic on the bass drum going thru the audiobuddy, or use all three with the behringer mixer? I suppose it would be best to use trial and error here but it just takes so long to set everything up y'know. Any pointers would be a big help. Thanks again.
kev
 
I have no experience with Behringer mixers, but I do have an Audio Buddy. Obviously you'll need phantom power for the B1, but either of those can provide that (I'm guessing in the case of the Behringer). Would you say the B1 sounds better through the AB or the Behringer?
 
Hello!

I respectfully disagree with Mark7 on the merits of the e835 as a microphone. I have one and it's a great dynamic microphone. I've used it on everything and it never balked. For now it will work as a kick mic if you need it to, I also like it on snare.

I also have a little Behringer mixer and yes, it will give you phantom power.

Since you are limited to two tracks of simult. recording, as I currently am, you can choose to use each track for a seperate microphone and maintain complete control over the seperate tracks.

Or you could use the mixer to submix your 3 mics into 2 tracks. Try bass drum down the middle and snare panned hard to one side and the overhead to the other. First set levels in mono to get everything sounding good. Then pan the snare and OH tracks and record away. You should be able to achieve some seperation using eq to gain some control back over the situation.. but I suggest you eq after the fact on the PC.

The bass drum is a low freq instrument, so run a low pass filter on one of the tracks to get a bass drum track. Then run the opposite of the low pass filter on the original two tracks to seperate.

It's not perfect, but sometimes you gotta make do.

Rock on!
Pat
 
I said to try the E835 on the kick. I just took it as a given that he could swap the 835 and the 57 over if he wanted to.
 
Yes I know you did, bud.

Not dissing ya. Just don't want salvetrem ditchin a bitchin microphone for one that can be bought for 70 bucks.

Peace!
Pat
 
Oh right, I suggested he should sell it and use the funds to buy a Pro25 didn't I! Yeah, well I should have stipulated that that was only as a last resort if: (a) neither the 835 or the 57 was doing it for him on kick and (b) that was the only way he could afford a new mic. Since I don't know Salvetem or his circumstances I was trying to be as vague as possible ;) But since I'm also a member of the more mics the merrier brigade I'll amend my advice to say:

"sell the E835 (or, indeed the SM57!) only if (a) neither of your current dynamics is giving you the kick sound you want (even after placement and EQing) and (b) the only way you can afford a new mic is by selling one of your current ones".

That better Pat?
 
If you got these three mics, I'd try to go a slightly different way.


I assume you'll record OH and BD into one channel and the snare in the second one... I always dislike my direct snare tone, so I have to tweak afterwards...


First, place the overhead. Take your time. The thing is to find the place that the overhead give you the most natural sounding sound of your complete set. You'll probably have a bd that will be too low and the snare a little 'floppy' that way.

Then I'd add the bass drum to the mixer, tweak for a nice sound, and mix in. The mix should go to one channel.

Then record the snare. As I told, I am quite anal about snare sounds (maybe as I have already spoiled some song by having a REAL BAAAD snare :D). It goes into the other channel to have the possibility of getting it crisper by compression...

Hope I could help

aXel
 
Thanks for the advice people. Much appreciated. (sorry i couldnt reply earlier btw, away on holiday) So anyway, you reckon i should use the mixer for the oh and bd, mixed into one line in of the soundcard, and then use the audiobuddy for the snare? Sounds good. I'l give it a try and let you know asap. Btw, i dont want to start a war here, but in peoples experience, will the behringer wreck the track(with added noise or does it just not colour the sound nicely or what?) You see, ive just been using it for a speaker and head-phone amp up untill i got this new mic... and havent actually recorded with it yet. So would it be better to use the audibuddy as the pre-amp for the snare AND the OH, and then go into a line in on the mixer with the OH line (to avoid effects of the mixer?) , or would the sound be equally coloured/made noisier, whether i used the mixers preamps or the ab's?
Thanks again.
Kev
 
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