recording with electronic drum kit

[James-Doolan]

we are a metal band about to record our first proper record now we are doing it ourselves and are pretty ok with recording the guitars bass ect but we want to get a killer drum sound but havent the first clue about recording drums nor do we have the mics so we were thinking of doing it with an electric kit is this a good idea we were thinking that we could just tweak the settings after the performance to taste or is micing up a real drum kit the way to go and if so what equipment is essential looking for a drum sound alone the lines of all shall perish realy could do with some advice on this as the drummer we are using to record this record is probaly one of the best in ireland and we realy want to get the most out of him this dude played with sikths drummer and was not that impressed

 

[AudioPhile777]

Use. Whatever. Works.

Ideally a nice sounding acoustic kit, mic'd up perfectly with some excellent mic pre's/mics, etc etc...

but if you cant swing that, use the electric kit... they dont sound that bad if you spend a little time with them.

 

[sparkyness]

E-drums and DFHS are an option. You won't capture all the the subtleties or feel of real drums, but it'll get you close-ish. There's some demo videos on the toontrack site I think of guys jamming with an e-kit and DFHS in real-time.

 

[Exocaster]

There's so much metal with most or all of the drums entirely replaced with samples that using an electronic kit isn't going to be an issue, assuming your sounds are decent.

I'd suggest using real cymbals with the e-kit if you can, though. I've found cymbals are one of the hardest things to fake. Individual hits are easy enough, but the way a still-swinging and vibrating cymbal reacts to successive hits isn't an easy thing to fake. Setting up a pair of overheads for the cymbals should be straightforward enough, and if the electronic kit has mesh heads, you shouldn't have any real issues with "drums" in the overheads.

 

[SymbolicSV]

Eidolon (Glen,Shawn Drover) used to record their albums whit Roland V drums

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

So did (does) nocturnal rites!

 

[whitedamp]

I'd suggest using real cymbals with the e-kit if you can.

+1

 

[James-Doolan]

ok so the electric drum kit with real symbols seems to be winning here wher can i find lots of cool metal drum samples to programme into the kit

 

[James-Doolan]

also if ther is anyone who knows what they are doing and live in ireland we would to have them work with us on this project

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

also if ther is anyone who knows what they are doing and live in ireland we would to have them work with us on this project

I suggest this idea for you:

-Record drums to midi
-Record dry guitar and bass signals (no distortion, just clean)
-Edit your tracks
-Record vocals
-Post your audio files for someone here to reamp/remix

There are a lot of talented folks here who would probably do it for free. If you post here, chances are you'll get several mixes to choose from. Even if you don't use them, you'll get a good idea of what you want.

It's a deal where you win no matter what...good luck!!

 

[-Gavin-]

I suggest this idea for you:

-Record drums to midi
-Record dry guitar and bass signals (no distortion, just clean)
-Edit your tracks
-Record vocals
-Post your audio files for someone here to reamp/remix

There are a lot of talented folks here who would probably do it for free. If you post here, chances are you'll get several mixes to choose from. Even if you don't use them, you'll get a good idea of what you want.

It's a deal where you win no matter what...good luck!!

+22000

 

[IronApe]

I'd suggest to go with the e-drum kit too. Recording a real drumset is a bit bitchy, and as Exocaster says, so many metal bands trigger and replace drums, it wouldn't be an issue at all.

On the other hand though, I'd say not to bother with real cymbals, once you have your midi just pass it through DFHS, tweak the kits, bleeds, cymbals, whatever and you're good to go.
If you record your real cymbals, you might notice afterwards that it doesn't sound good or maybe just not appropriate in the mix, and also, you can modify a midi track anytime, while obviously can't with a recorded track!

Cymbals in DFHS aren'y bad at all, if you play with them a bit.

BTW, this is what I'm doing with my band, recorded a midi file from a DTX and then through DFHS.

As for samples, DFHS is Drumkit From Hell Superior (we all took for granted that you knew, but I'm pointing it out just to make sure!!), more info here. I'd say it's all you need.

 

[sorceron]

i did this with v drums and just recorded the midi and used ez drummer for the sounds. http://www.myspace.com/reignofvengeance

 

[whitedamp]

You can try Steven Slate Drums (www.stevenslatedrums.com) for the samples. I got mine yesterday but didn´t had enough time to analyze the snares and kicks, but at first they sounded great to me.

 

[Jevil]

And what about this...
Mic the drum and record in the old traditional style, then gate every track until you only get a clean signal of every stroke and finally replace all with Drumagog or Uptrigga... I've never done it, but, would it work?
This way you could even use acoustic sounds to mix with samples or let cymbals natural.

 

[GuitarMaestro]

I would also recommend to record real drums. If they dont sound great you can still replace the hits with samples. And usually it sounds way better/natural to blend the samples with the real drum sound, even if the real sound is not good....

 

[462studio]

I'd suggest to go with the e-drum kit too. Recording a real drumset is a bit bitchy, and as Exocaster says, so many metal bands trigger and replace drums, it wouldn't be an issue at all.

I agree that most people end up replacing the drums, but I don't understand why everyone seems to be of the opinion that acoustic drums are so difficult to record. I find that miking up a kit and getting a decent sound from a live kit is very easy to do when compared to something like getting a great guitar tone, even with the proper microphones, amps, etc. Mic placement alone is a daunting task for guitars in my opinion considering how subjective the entire guitar tone debate is.

As far as the electronic kit is concerned, I have two original 5PC Yamaha DTXPress kits put together as one for a monster DFHS controller and it works very very well. While it takes some time to get the sound you want out of DFHS and for a drummer to learn to play an electronic kit, which is far different than a real kit in my opinion, you can get some really excellent results.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I suggest this idea for you:

-Record drums to midi
-Record dry guitar and bass signals (no distortion, just clean)
-Edit your tracks
-Record vocals
-Post your audio files for someone here to reamp/remix

There are a lot of talented folks here who would probably do it for free. If you post here, chances are you'll get several mixes to choose from. Even if you don't use them, you'll get a good idea of what you want.

It's a deal where you win no matter what...good luck!!

+1 excellent idea.

 

[demeyed]

Where abouts in Ireland are you from? I can't help you out because I'm basically in the same boat, I was just wondering because I've never heard of ye.

 

[James-Doolan]

Where abouts in Ireland are you from? I can't help you out because I'm basically in the same boat, I was just wondering because I've never heard of ye.

based in the south east wexford waterford area but im living in dublin which sucks 3 hour journey every w/e. Yea you wouldent have heard of us unless you were from around there mostly did gigs in kilkenny wexford just sacked the drummer nd we are getting barry english from cork to do drums cant wait as we did a gig with him before and he is fucking sick drummer. what band you in? where you based?