My first serious recording(bunch of questions) Help plz

[The-Zeronaut]

Soon i´m gonna record my first "serious" demo...its only 4 songs for some good friends of mine and i´m not charging anything...but i want to make it “the pr0 way”.
Last week we created the metronome tracks and laid down some guide guitars for the drummer and we will start recording drums this friday.

We recorded a little drum test on saturday .you can hear it here (no post processing ,only a HP on overheads):
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/453972/Drum test.mp3

Actually in this test is the bassist who is playing the drums (he was a drummer years ago
so sorry for the sloopy playing)


and you can see some photos of the room and the equipment we will use here:
http://www.getdropbox.com/gallery/453972/1/Recording Photos?h=8392ce


i´m gonna record real drums (Kick,Snare and toms will be replaced)
and D.I. For bass and guitars with a Toneport UX1(they will be reamped with revalver and ampeg svx)

We have all this mics:
Samson 8kit (http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1772&brandID=2)
2 Shure pg81
1 Shure sm57
Behringer B1
Akg D11

I have only 8 inputs in the presonus so i was planning to record
Kick
Top Snare
3 toms
Hihat
2 overheads

What overhead positioning would be the better?(i was thinking in Spaced pair)

Shall i record the overhead mics in mono or stereo (each one)?

For checking out the phase i put a phasemeter in a group with the overheads panned L and R.
When the drummer plays kick or snare they where pretty much in the center of the stereo image and in phase .
maybe its a retarded question but...
Does that mean that the cymbals will be in phase?

Shall i aim for the kick or the snare on the dead center of the image (with the overheads)?

How can i take out the HH from the Ohs?

Shall i compress OH and HH?
And if i shall do it...what settings do you have to start with?

Where do you usually HP or LP reverb on snare , toms and vocals?

Shall i put the “saturator” plugin before or after compression?

is there any form to attenuate the "ring" of the snare after compression?

which mic its better for vocals?
I was thinking on Sm57, the behringer B1 or even the Shure pg81

Thank you all for the help


P.S: sorry if there´s something wrong with the english
and sorry again for the big post...im a noob and i want to record
the demo with the best sound possible and there are so many things i dont know

 

[schust]

i'll give this shot, given others, more experienced, will come along with more...

What overhead positioning would be the better?(i was thinking in Spaced pair)

definitely, spaced pair. stay away from that x-y stuff. bad mojo.

Shall i record the 2 overheads in mono or stereo?

stereo

For checking out the phase i put a phasemeter in a group with the overheads panned L and R.
When the drummer plays kick or snare they where pretty much in the center of the stereo image and in phase .
maybe its a retarded question but...
Does that mean that the cymbals will be in phase?

in addition to checking phase at the board, observe the 3:1 rule - http://www.crownaudio.com/mic_web/tips/mictip6.htm

Shall i aim for the kick or the snare on the dead center of the image?

makes sense

How can i take out the HH from the Ohs?

tell the drummer to ease up on hitting the hat. it'll make your life in mix-down so much easier. i have in the past aimed the mics slightly away from the hat (and cymbal groups) to help reduce excessive cymbal noise. the sticky here on drums, started by Oz, is excellent and hits on this as well as most of these questions. good read, albeit very long.

Shall i compress OH and HH? And if i shall do it...what settings do you have to start with?

i assume you mean during mix? i'd save this for mix-down until you can hear everything and how the drums sit in the mix. just go for the best solid, clear recording of the kit you can get up front and again, tell the drummer to take it easy..

which mic its better for vocals?
I was thinking on Sm57, the behringer B1 or even the Shure pg81

i love the behringer.

 

[AudioPhile777]

How can i take out the HH from the Ohs?

stick a shitty mic on the hihat and crank that shit really loud in the drummer's headphones... that usually makes for good results as far as drummer's hitting it too fucking hard...

you could always stick something that floats between the hihat and the overheads that will diffuse the sound of the hats...

my advice is mainly to try a bunch of shit... think of things that you think might or might not work, try them and know for sure...

 

[beyond dead]

you could use the hi hat mic to trigger a gate on the oh`s, or automate the gate or volume of the oh tracks when the hihat comes in. thats what I do when hi hats are too loud

 

[The-Zeronaut]

Thank you all

bump for more answers

 

[brianhood]

We have all this mics:
Samson 8kit (http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1772&brandID=2)
2 Shure pg81
1 Shure sm57
Behringer B1
Akg D11

I have only 8 inputs in the presonus so i was planning to record
Kick
Top Snare
3 toms
Hihat
2 overheads

If you're planning on replacing kick, snr, and toms, save yourself some trouble down the road and just trigger those.

What overhead positioning would be the better?(i was thinking in Spaced pair)

definitely spaced

How can i take out the HH from the Ohs?

I believe andy positions his OH's so the crash cymbals are between the OH's and the Hi Hats. If that doesnt take enough of the hats out of the OH, try beyond dead's tip.

Shall i compress OH and HH?
And if i shall do it...what settings do you have to start with?

I do, and i start at 3:1 with fast attack and about 50ms release with around a -15 thresh and about a 3db makeup.
I'm probably completely wrong though so dont listen to me.

is there any form to attenuate the "ring" of the snare after compression?

Judging by those clips, you really really need to muffle the ring out of that snare. Just use some tissues and tape or something. Jamie king straight up tapes foam to the tom heads and uses dampening rings on the snare...