Has anyone ever tried this?

[RyanUsesThis]

Using real cymbals with electronic drums for recording? It works remarkably well... I'm recording my own project, so I don't have a drummer to argue about how their drums are their "Signature sound"...

Here's a clip of the end results. Let me know what you think.

 

[Notuern]

Ive seen alot videos where people have done this.
Sounds good!

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Cool!

 

[RyanUsesThis]

I had to call in a lot of favors to get the V-Drums, and the Cymbals from friends.. but I just don't like the way sequenced cymbals sounds.. so it's totally worth it in my opinion.

 

[slashvanyoung]

I thought, this is actually quite a common setup. For very fast stuff I prefer having a real snare in there, too.

 

[RyanUsesThis]

I prefer recording a real drum set. But in this case, my band broke up over two years ago and I'm probably the only one in the band that still remembers the songs.

My friend (the drummer of said band) is going to do the playing, but he hasn't played the songs in over 2 years.. and we don't have time to rehears.. so this way we only need to really worry about the cymbal hits, and I can get elaborate with the rest in post.

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, pretty sweet - the only thing I can think that might be an issue is the annoying "clack" of the v-drum attack being picked up in the OH's, how do you deal with that?

 

[Machinated]

Hmm, pretty sweet - the only thing I can think that might be an issue is the annoying "clack" of the v-drum attack being picked up in the OH's, how do you deal with that?

My guess would be that the samples used on the drums should cover everything up, as the clack will only be quick and fairly quiet (i.e. its not going to be ringing out over everything).

If it is causing a problem, I'm sure using a compressor with a fast attack to kill off the impact of them would help a lot.

 

[RyanUsesThis]

Exactly. Then if there's a part where there are no Cymbals you just cut it out.

The High pass at about 600 - 700hz gets rid of 90% of any hit on the Vdrum too.

 

[musickey]

Thats killer. I have been trying to get my drummer a setup like that for awile. And on another note just a suggestion but i would move the overheads a bit closer to the cymbal groups.

 

[Metaltastic]

Exactly. Then if there's a part where there are no Cymbals you just cut it out.

The High pass at about 600 - 700hz gets rid of 90% of any hit on the Vdrum too.

Right, good call - awesome!

Thats killer. I have been trying to get my drummer a setup like that for awile. And on another note just a suggestion but i would move the overheads a bit closer to the cymbal groups.

HAHAhahahahah, yeah, wow, I didn't even notice 'em there at first, I just assumed they weren't set up yet

 

[RyanUsesThis]

huh... I must not have set them up fully before I took the picture... currently they're sitting right above the HH, and Ride.

 

[RyanUsesThis]

While we're on the subject of mic placement for overheads... During the hours I spent testing different mic placements for the overheads I found the most difficult thing was to keep the Hi Hat from bleeding to much into both sides.

Using only two overheads I can get a decent split of the crashes, chinas, and ride... but the hi hat just doesn't want to stay to one side.. it sort of creeps it's way into the middle of the stereo field.

Any suggestions on how to get the best split using only 2 mics?

 

[axeman720]

Use smaller hats (i have a set of 13" paiste that sound amazing) and pay attention to how open and closed they are. The more closed the more quiet and controlled, although there is times where you need to open em and rock. That will help a ton