Need recommendations for a live drum recording setup

Demonstealer

Demonstealer

Member
Jun 30, 2003
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demonicresurrection.8m.com
Hey All,
I've been off the forum for a bit since my last project completed. Anyway I've sound proofed my garage and been using it as a rehearsal room as well as a studio and I've tracked my guitars etc all there, now I want to start recording the acoustic drums as well. And I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good setup for me. I'm looking for something that doesn't involve a mixer because I dont have much space so if there are any soundcards, preamps, drum mic packs etc that you can suggest that are affordable then I'd love to know. I was thinking that I will need to record via adat considering the number of tracks.

Anyway hope someone here can give me a few good suggestions.

Cheers!
 
Focusrite octpre MK2 it`s a cheap and relatively good 8 chanel mic pre, and it has AD output to, so i think it`s ideal for you.
For drum mics i recomend a good pair of overheads(like Rode NT5), for snare SM57, Trigger the bassdrum and snare to, and for toms you can go with sm 57`s to or whatever you have. Don`t forget fresh new drumheads and tune those drums.
 
For toms and snare SM57's or I5's will do. I prefer I5's personally as they're a bit more pre-eq'd.
Get some half decent condensers for overheads (Rode NT5's, Oktava MK012, Audio Technica ATM450, AKG C391B will do you good)
A set of drum triggers will help for sidechaining gates or sample replacing as they've got a much better signal to noise ratio than mic's (I like drumdial triggers, you can find them on ebay. Roland triggers are also very good)
You don't really need a kick mic to be honest as chances are it's going to be 100% sample replaced anyway. If you stuff the kick with a blanket you'll get much less of the kick in the overhead mic's and this will make editing later on much easier. The drummer will have to either monitor the kick trigger or you could grab a drum module so he can monitor a kick sound from that.

Almost any ADAT equipped preamp will do. As mentioned the Octopre has a good price to quality ratio. There's also good offerings from M Audio, Presonus etc.

Ebay is your friend here. No-one's buying right now so you can get some good deals.
 
I've got a Yamaha DTXpress Electronic Kit with the module as well, my drummer from DR uses the Yamaha Electronic Kit anyway since he is left handed but yeah I guess then it makes sense to use a trigger on the kick as opposed to the mics. I would sample replace it anyway :)

Btw did I mention I live in India so Ebay isn't always an option. However a lot of stuff is available here these days.
 
Btw this is my studio and drumkit (well its my drummers kit :p ) and this is camera audio with rough guitars over that, rough guitars recorded with broken pod :p




And this is the same kit with 2 microphones (one of snare and 1 overhead) SM57 on snare and 58 for ambience
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj4uMzsbsE0&feature=related[/ame]
 
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Just advice before you start micing, he hits no where near hard enough as he should be for metal. The cheapest route for mics/interface would probably be a Presonus D8 with 5 SM57's and Rode NT5's.
 
Definitely, metal is about hitting hard man on every instrument! When you hit hard, there's less bleed because you don't need to turn up the mic gain to compensate for softer hits. You aren't a bad drummer by any means, but you need to beat the shit out of that set!
 
AllanD said:
Definitely, metal is about hitting hard man on every instrument! When you hit hard, there's less bleed because you don't need to turn up the mic gain to compensate for softer hits. You aren't a bad drummer by any means, but you need to beat the shit out of that set!
Click to expand...

Biggest crock of shit I have ever heard ....

You ever see Gene Hoglan play drums? Daniel erlandson? they barely TOUCH the kit ....

Hes all wrist:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T:rofl:sBqrh1E&feature=related[/ame]

 
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Soft hitting my ass. Listen to how he hits the snare and kick, he slams the shit out of them. Of course you use wrist, that's proper technique. Doesn't mean you hit soft.


Here's another video. He destroys the toms and snare.


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_zYowVpJx0&NR=1[/ame]
 
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You didn't mentioned a budget.. but here's what I would get

Interface - Profire 2626
Kick - Audix D6
Snare - SM57 or Heil PR22
Toms - Heil PR28 or Sennheiser 604s
OHs - Rode NT5 or Oktava mk012
 
AllanD said:
Definitely, metal is about hitting hard man on every instrument! When you hit hard, there's less bleed because you don't need to turn up the mic gain to compensate for softer hits. You aren't a bad drummer by any means, but you need to beat the shit out of that set!
Click to expand...

Wrong.
The amount of bleed you get is nothing to do with how much preamp gain you apply. It's all to do with how hard you hit the drums compared to how hard you hit the cymbals. Aswell as how close your cymbals are to your drums and how you position your mic's.
 
It isn't wrong as I've experienced this personally. Regardless how far the hi hat is from the snare, if I have to crank the gain because the drummer hits too soft, I'm going to get a lot more bleed than I would from a drummer who doesn't hit soft. Notice in the videos that I posted that I only mentioned how Gene Hoglan hits the drums hard. I didn't say the cymbals, I'm aware that it's about balance.
 
All depends $. You did say "affordable" so i'll take that as on the low end of the spectrum. With low budget in mind I would go for a audix or sennheiser eSereis drum pack. Pre's & conversion (audio interface) all depends on budget as well. A dual adat card + 2 8ch combo adat/pres would be the cheapest.
Best bang for the $ would be to go the DIY route if you can handle a soldering iron. I built 16chan of SCA pres not to long ago for my 2nd studio & saved a few 1000.

As far as soft/heavy playing is concerned, it's all relative. It's more about Mic placement & proper playing technique. Spot micing (close miced) & processing will give you your drum channel isolation. But if your hat is being slushed louder then the snare is being played, you will have an issue.
 
Okay screw the mics for now.

Just audio interface + preamp.

What are the options. Is it possible to get 16 inputs? (I say 16 because I don't think you get 10, 12 and 13 as options)

Lets say I could afford 1000-1500$

Is it possible?
 
guitarguru777 said:
Biggest crock of shit I have ever heard ....

You ever see Gene Hoglan play drums? Daniel erlandson? they barely TOUCH the kit ....
Click to expand...

Find an example of a great heavy album where it sounds like the drummer is playing softly. Don't get me wrong; on Dark Side of the Moon - Nick Mason doesn't hit hard - but there's a difference between that and the Black Album... If you swapped Lars with Nick on those albums they wouldn't be half as good as they are.

And that's a fact.
 
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