new to home recording, please help

Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 2:43 pm

I have a ZOOM MRS-802CD and a Mackie DFX12 I am trying to record a couple song for the band I am in, my only problem is recording drums and basically trying to get it to sound as professional as possible with what I have. Of course if I have to buy more equipment I would be willing to for the sake of producing a better sound. I also have an ART Tube PAC that I am trying to incorporate because I heard some people use it for guitars, bass, drum, and vocals to produce a better sound. Right now I have a problem with the drums always clipping and when they are not clipping the sound is too low and the bass drum and snare sound dull. They only clip on the recorders mic input levels. Also how should I record everything, meaning drums and bass together and then guitars? Thanks for any help you can give me. I also included pics of the equipment I have. One more thing I have the samson drum mic kit for the drums. I know this isn't the best shit to be working with and I know its not going to sound amazing I'm just trying to make it better than what it is now. Thanks.
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Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 6:59 pm

One thing you could try is to plug the drum mics into the mackie and use headphones to monitor each piece to setting the levels. You can also play around with mic placement to get a sound. Pan the pieces slightly from the middle based on the kit layout, Bass drm center snare rt .... Then connect the mackie to the Zoom and record the drums as a stereo mix. Play with this setup until you get the drums to sound good. This is not the only way to do it but it might help you get familiar with what works and what doesn't.

Also, check this site:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 7:07 pm

My thought would be to compress the drums a little. Squash the peaks and bring the whole lot up, so it won't clip, but will get louder.

But, I think the Tube pre/comp will clip because mic preamps don't take line level signals from mixers, they take mic level inputs. Someone or a scan of the manual and a search onmic/line level signals will confirm this. You could try and find an external compressor and use that.

And don't worry about working with crap too much, I sometimes enjoy the sound I get from onboard soundcards and $25 mics. Sometimes.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:47 am

I actually have the drum mics in the mackie, I have to condensers one panned left and the other right, I never thought of panning the snare though so I will try that. And I also went from the Mackie with two female XLR's to one male XLR into that back of the Tube PAC and vice versa into the Zoom. And wht do you mean by squash the peaks and bring the whole lot up?

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:04 am

Also one more thing I do not understand MIDI at all and my ZOOM has hook up in the back for MIDI does this mean I could hook it up to a computer, I wouldn't be asking this question if I had my manual with me but my cousin is borrowing my recorder currently. Thanks again.

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:58 am

PeaceFrog wrote:

I actually have the drum mics in the mackie, I have to condensers one panned left and the other right, I never thought of panning the snare though so I will try that. And I also went from the Mackie with two female XLR's to one male XLR into that back of the Tube PAC and vice versa into the Zoom. And wht do you mean by squash the peaks and bring the whole lot up?

Also one more thing I do not understand MIDI at all...

I wouldn't pan the snare TOO far, unless it goes thru the Mackie and into it's own recorded channel, which you can pan as a mono track wherever you want later. The snare usually doesn't belong extreme panned.

You'll have to explain the statement about "went from the Mackie with two female XLR's to one male XLR into that back of the Tube PAC and vice versa into the Zoom". Not sure that makes any sense. If you somehow found a couple of Y'ed XLR mono cables...DON'T DO THAT! You are shorting the outputs of the Mackie. And, you are splitting a mono signal into the Zoom. Elaborate, please?

"Squashing the peaks" with compression/limiting will allow the track to obtain an overall louder signal, without peaking. Research compression/limiting, and you'll see why.

Download a manual for the Zoom. I don't know if they use it somehow only for MIDI sync purposes, or if the Zoom has internal MIDI sounds, such as drums, or if it's only for MIDI-controlled transport functions. It's in the manual.

Kapt.Krunch

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 2:02 pm

cool thanks and yeah it a Y XLR cable

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 7:43 pm

Your output options are 2 XLRs or 2 1/4" jacks (one left, one right) I assume?

And your input options on the ZOOM are what?
1 mono XLR? 2 mono XLRs?

Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 10:14 pm

Yeah The outputs from the Mackie is a Y XLR (2 female to 1 male) and the inputs to the zoom is another Y XLR (2 male to 1 female), the 1 male was going into the back of the Tube PAC and the 1 female was going from the Tube PAC to the zoom but as I found out from this post I shouldn't do that so I'm not going to. What I was thinking of doing is recording the drum 3 times, once with the overhead condensers, then with the snare, and then the kick. this way all four mics are not sending a signal to the recorder that is to over powering if that makes any sense. Of course I would pan the condensers one left and one right. and maybe off center the snare to right just a hair then center the kick.

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