recording drums on a multitracker
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Posted on Oct 30, 2003 11:51 am
mccarty
eeeeeeemo.
Member Since: Oct 30, 2003
hell-o folks
I'm in a band and we're looking to start recording some of our music. I've got a setup at home which we're going to use. It consists of:
PC with Cubasis VST and an M-Audio Audiophile
Pod XT
Edirol PCR-50
Phonic MM1002 Mixer
The studio room is quite small, and our drummer is yet to buy his own drums (don't laugh...) meaning, unless we resort to midi drums (no thanks), we need some way of recording drums in a rehearsal room, then bringing this recording back to the studio so the rest of the band can play it's parts over the top. Still with me?
I have been recommended the Fostex VF80, which, althouh will only allow us to use 2 mics to record the drums, we feel is adequate. Can anyone give any advice or opinions on this? Also, how do you transfer recordings off the V80's hard drive onto the pc for editing in Cubasis?
Any help appreciated...
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juesContributor
Since: Dec 30, 2002
Oct 30, 2003 02:05 pm j0!
I can readily sympathise with your situation, a while back I considered doing this myself, but fortunatly we found a local studio that only charged us £60 for a 3 hour drum recording session, all the inputs we wanted and we got to take the WAV files home on CD.
However, if you are intent on recording at a practice studio, then yes, it is possible, however you are going to face quite a few problems.
Foremost, your tracking medium.
The Fostex, as you stated, only has 2 inputs, which really limits you to using 2 mics on the kit (unless you want to submix using your Phonic Mixing desk - but seeing as you will be doing this on headphones, I would be cautious of this approach. IMHO, you will be best going for 2 mics so that you have a bit of flexibility when it comes to the mixdown.
The next problem you will face (epecially with 2 mics) is the sound of the room. Practice spaces are rarely acoustically tuned to any degree. I find that drum kits only really sound great recorded when they are set up in a wooden room. If the kit sounds bad in the practice space then it's not gonna sound to hot on tape.
Okay, as for mic placement, I would place a dynamic mic (an SM57 would do fine) at knee height about a meter from the kick drum, level with the Mid Tom and pointing at the snare drum (I hope that makes sense).
The other mic should be a condensor (you will require some form of phantom powering if the Fostex does not provide it) which would ideally be positioned over the kit as an overhead.
When the two sources are mixed you should get a fairly good representation of the drum kit, remember that compression is your friend - a nice punchy compression algorhythm on these 2 signals combiend will bring more life to your drum sound.
Good luck and feel free to ask more questions where needed.
jues.
mccartyeeeeeeemo.Member
Since: Oct 30, 2003
Oct 30, 2003 02:26 pm Wow, thanks! This forum is so much better than asking audio shop assistants......
One more thing, I was told that one money saving possibility would be to use my portable minidisc recorder with my mixer (not a multitrack minidisc recorder, one like this:
Apparently these recorders auto level anything you record, meaning i wouldnt get a true recording of the drums. However, this doesn't bother us too much, and seeing as we have all the equipment to try this (except some cables maybe)it could be worth attempting...?
Considering this, would the mindisc idea be possible?
Again, any advice greatly apreciated..
Oct 30, 2003 02:28 pm sure, anything is worth attempting as long as it's legal :-) Sounds like a legitmate idea to try, I know this forum has a few avid minidisc users...
and let us know how it works!
Oct 31, 2003 11:39 pm If you would like to mic the drums and are limited to only 2 mic inputs, then yes the placement that jues gave you sounds really good, i havet tried it but i bet it works just fine. another idea, that i have uesd is just get to dynamic mics (i used 2 Shure SM57s), or condensor mics, depending on your budget. Place them over the drums, a little bit a part. Face them down towards the drums at an angles, not to high or you might get the symbols to much, try not to go more than 3 meters a part or its going to start to go out of phase. its going to sound reallly "chimmy" if you go to high on the place ment, just an idea. remember, there are no limits, do what ever you like, what we have sugested is just things we have tryed or have herd people try, there are no rules or any "right way" to do it...knock yourself out! go out there and recored!!!!
about the minidisc, go for it! nothing wrong with using the minidisc for recording and or playback. it saves space if you have a computer, and its also a way to archive if need be. if you have a line input, then you can monitor the recording with the earphones out while its recording. not bad at all...have fun! depending on what type of minidisc player/recorder you have, then everything should work just fine.
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
Nov 02, 2003 09:46 am me and jamie both use minidiscs as portable recorders...i love mine!
Nov 02, 2003 03:26 pm viva la minidisc!
excellent affordable twotracker. also great for found sound, if you're into that sort of thing.
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
Nov 03, 2003 07:51 am that reminds me, gotta charge mine...
