V-Drums
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Posted on Nov 13, 2003 01:41 pm
Bud Herzberger
Member Since: Nov 13, 2003
I'm using V-drums for home recording and they work really well. The only shortcoming is with the cymbol sounds. They just don't sound full like the real thing. I've tried tweaking the settings and the end result is not much different. Any suggestions?
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Nov 13, 2003 01:43 pm What you could do, depending on how you are recording (since you didn't fill out your gear profile) is replace those drums sounds with something else. If you are recording on to a PC, it would be fairly easy (I assume, not totally familiar with v-drums) to have the v-drums trigger a different sound from a virtual drum machine on the PC.
Are V-drums an electronic midi-signal powered drum set like I am assuming they are?
Nov 13, 2003 01:58 pm Sorry about not supplying enough information. I'm new to this. I'm using a Roland VS-1824CD recorder. I've always used the V-drums as a stand-alone unit connected direccly to the recorder. The V-drums are midi compatible but I know nothing about midi.
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
Nov 13, 2003 05:54 pm are the v drums the kit that ya play like a normal drum kit - except theyre all electronic?
Nov 13, 2003 08:12 pm V-drums have the feel of acoustic drums but they're electronic.
MinkusMazBane of All ExistenceMember
Since: Mar 27, 2003
Nov 13, 2003 08:50 pm you know i am not sure if this would work and it seems pretty complex, but it might be interesting:
you could route each drum/cymbal to a mixer and get a good mix of it (mostly cymbals), and use that as a sort of pseudo-overhead mic track, and also route the individual drums to their own tracks to beef up the mix with EQ. it just seems like what makes cymbals in a recording sound like cymbals is that they are running on the same track as all the other drums and that any compression etc interacts with the whole drumset sound, creating a different reaction with the cymbals.
it might not work at all since these are electronic drums, but it also might be a halfway-decent mask.
--edit--
thinking about it, i'm not sure if you are simply taking a stereo or mono track of the whole drumset itself and not being satisfied with the cymbal sound on THAT. hmm...
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 13, 2003 09:48 pm Bud, what you might try if your willing to take the plunge into midi is to record the midi data into the VS, I believe they facilitate that but not sure. But here is the track. Filter out all the note data except the the brass tracks. Or you could sync a PC DAW to your VS and record the midi data there. Then just trigger a good sampled hat or whatever cymbal your not happy with in a sampler program. There are several freeware ones out there that do nicely.
If youd like, let me know in this thread and I can walk you through dBs suggestion to do the tracks via a sampler on the PC. Midi is really not that scary at all.
Nov 14, 2003 06:24 am I've avoided midi probably out of ignorance. I know that it has the potential to expand what you can do by a large factor. I just need to know how to master the learning curve. Thanks for your help.
Bud
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Nov 15, 2003 03:43 pm I felt the same way when digital audio recording first came out. I was so into my rig which locked all my midi gear and analog gear together via outboard sync machines that I just couldnt fathom anything better. Once I dove in, (head first mind you) I found a world I wished had come along sooner. Now I am full blown in it, the only analog recording gear left in the studio is the 2 track mix down deck. Now thats not saying my racks arent full of analog hardware, they are. So I havent abandoned everything for the digital world, but I am really starting to consider it.
So dont feel bad about not jumping in right away with the midi stuff. Start out slow with maybe just getting you V-drums hooked into the PC via midi and messing around with differant midi drum synths and such. You can still record all the V-drum sounds to your tracks as well as recording the midi dat at the same time into the PC. Then when you find that there is something just not right in the audio tracks, you can choose the midi track that was recorded for that particular sound and it will play back any sound of your choosing in sync with the tracks on the VS.
Nov 16, 2003 08:54 am Thanks for your advice and encouragement.
GeoffSM7b the Chuck Noris of Mic'sContributor
Since: Jun 20, 2002
Nov 16, 2003 02:13 pm i use the v drums and i've found you could also record real cymbals , while you're recording the electric kit. I've personally found my electric kit works and sounds better than my acu. set ( and it's so much easier ) but i had the same problem with the cymbals not sounding cool , so i just mic'ed the #$%'s !
brockMember
Since: Jun 28, 2002
Nov 16, 2003 02:14 pm if you have some accual cymbals you can set thouse up and then use over head mics for them. then you have your electronic cymbols for extra sounds and stuff
Nov 16, 2003 04:33 pm I may try recording real cymbals, but at this point I don't own any. Or I might try to find some nice sounding samples if they're any out there.
