Need help recording drums (routing etc)

[DaWolf]

How do record drums ? ¯\(°_o)/¯

Main problem is I can only record 8 tracks at once. Interface is a STA DAC2000/DSP24 with 8 inputs.
So I need to figure out the best way to get my drums recorded.
Second part of the setup would be a Soundcraft Spirit FX8 which has:
8 Mono inputs with direct outs (pre or post-fader)
4 stereo inputs
1 sub-group (2 outputs)
2 Aux (2x1 output)
(I will get it next week so it`s time to figure out the best way to do it)

So I thought about :
Tom 1-4 mic in - direct outs - interface
Overhead1 + Hihat - pan hardL - subgroup - group out left - interface
Overhead2 (+ ride ?) - pan hardR - Subgroup - group out right - interface
As I usually replace kick and snare :
Trigger signal kick - stereo line 1 - Aux 1 - interface
Trigger signal snare - stereo line 2 - Aux 2 - interface

So would this work or are there beeter ways to do this with what I have ?
And no, I don`t just want to play only 2 toms

Finally, of course this not going to be a professional recording , but I hope to get at least a good sounding promo.

 

[sirscratch01]

I would say just drop the hi hat and ride mics all together, you should have it covered with just the overheads. As it is, I (and a few other people from what I have read) tend to automate out the hi hat mic when the hi hat isnt playing as it just tends to clutter things up frequency-wise. That should leave you with 8 inputs all of which you can have control of after the fact. Should be enough to get you a damn good quality track.

 

[DaWolf]

I actually did that in my first recordings and it kinda worked, but the hihat sounded weak and had no definite spot in the stereo image (the ride was fine).
In my latest recording I grouped the hihat with one of the OHs (different console though) and I liked the result.

¯\(°_o)/¯

 

[sirscratch01]

Well if it worked for you then by all means dude...do it up. There are no rules to what we do, that's the fun part. But if you're still looking to simplify your life you can also play around with the position of the overhead mic. I found that if i'm not careful about where I place the left over head the hihat tends to take over everything, so when I want to use a dedicated hihat mic I have to separate the mic from the hats by placing a crash between them.

 

[DaWolf]

Thanks for your thoughts, I think I`ll have to do some tests with mic positions. Indeed there is a crash covering a portion of the hats.

But my main question was about how the smaller soundcraft mixer would handle my way of routing as I did with the old mixer where I had 24 in/outs, 2groups and 4 aux to play with (well it got less and less lately, it felt like I had a channel dying on me almost daily ).
I`ll probably post some first mixes after we have finished another song.When the new board arrives we`ll do guitars and then I have to re-record the drums because the old mixer messed them up badly.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Don't forget you have those spdif inputs, may be able to use them for two more tracks i believe.

 

[DaWolf]

Thank`s I`ll look into that when I`m in rehearsal next time, but I remember. that the interface shows 12 inputs in reaper - 1 think 2 of them are the 2 XLRs , but using them mutes the first 2 TRS inputs so that leaves 10.
So would be 2 of them the spdifs ?

Update: The spdifs are on a digital expansion card, which I don`t have. But there are 2 1/8 mic and line input jacks on the PCI card itself. Need to test if I can record through them at the same time with the inputs from the DAC 2000.

 

[ahjteam]

For my last session I used kick in (1), kick out (2), snare top (3), snare btm (4), toms 1-3 (7), 2 overheads (8), mono room (10) so that makes 10 tracks, but if you have four toms and only 8 tracks in use, you could do it like this: kick (1), snare top (2), toms 1-4 (6), 2 overheads (8). All thru the direct outs from the soundcraft mixer.

 

[DaWolf]

Yeah, that`s how I`ve done it so far. I fake the room mic with an impulse.