Recording Drums... Multiple Tracks or Just One?

hybridsound

hybridsound

New member
I'm having a bit of a problem with my drums. When I record them all at once onto one track, I can never get the EQ to favor any part of the track. If I want to boost the mids in the snare, the cymbals and hi hat come out really sharp and clangy. If I want to boost the low end of the bass drum, the toms eat everything else up. I do EQ each mic and it all sounds good when I listen to the mix before I record, but when it is actually recorded, it seems like some of the tones that were there before got left out when the recording took place. I have started to record my drums differently now due to this problem. I record each drum part piece by piece. For example:

Bass drum and snare = 1 Track
Toms = 1 Track
Cymbals = 1 Track
Hi Hat = 1 Track

Is this wrong for me to do? I know it is not conventional in the least but... Is it wrong? When I do it this way, I can EQ everything seperately and adjust the volume of each individual track. If I had recorded on just one track, I would not beable to do so.

Do other people do this? I just want your thoughts on this.

Sorry if this post is really hard to read... I've been awake for a long, long time.
 
If you are limited to 4 tracks while recording drums, you could set something up like this:

Bass - 1 track
Snare - 1 track
Overhead Left - 1 track
Overhead Right - 1 track

Or if you want to, you could replace one overhead with a mic on the hi hat, but I'd keep the bass and snare separate.

That being said, I have had some success using a mixing board and mixing down the drums to record on 1 stereo track in Audition. It takes some time to setup properly and you are right, once your track is down you have very little control over the individual drum components.
 
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