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i am th drumer for my band and I'm trying to find good software and mixers for a good price if you could list some items that would be great.

Comments

moonbaby Sat, 12/29/2007 - 01:37

Welcome to RO, Cilia !
My first tidbit of advice is...DON'T EVER LET THE DRUMMER MIX!!! :lol:
Seriously, your request is a WIDE OPEN question. There are simply tooooo many variables here. So, yer gonna git this thrown back at ya:
A) What budget are we dealing with?
B) How big a band (i.e., how many pieces) are we dealing with?
C) What type of musical material are we dealing with?
D) As far as software is concerned are you using a Mac or a PC? USB or Firewire? AC or DC? (That last one is a "red herring")...
E) Will you want to have any of the gear double for live use? This might include the mixer and/or the mics.
Keep in mind here that the more experienced folks here (pro's, ex-pro's, and semi-pro's) are going to tell you that you don't waste yer $$$ on cheap crap, be patient and build up the rig with quality gear as you can afford to do so.
I would also suggest that YOU go to : recorderman (Google that, but ignore the Jim Tinter site, he plays RECORDERS). Check out the overhead drum micing techniques that are demonstrated. Read and watch all that you can possibly take in. If you ever had the idea that more mics the better for your drumkit, think again. Don't come back here and argue with us that you "need" 7 mics on the kit, what do I buy? Properly placed in a decent room, 3 quality mics will KILL a set of 10 pieces of junk every time. Read up on it at those sites.
Now come back after you've read that info and can anwser the above questions. Happy New Year!

anonymous Sat, 12/29/2007 - 20:02

Good equipment without a good recording room and expertise in using it isn't going to lead to a good recording. It takes a lot of time and effort to learn to make a good recording. Do you want to learn those skills or do you prefer playing music? If the later, perhaps it would be more useful to invest your money into hiring a professional or semi-pro studio to do the recording. But, if you just want to record practices, etc. that's a different story. You might find [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.tweakhea…"]this guide[/]="http://www.tweakhea…"]this guide[/] useful too. Lots of info about recording, studio options, etc. Look at the mixerless options in particular.

A) How about a ball-park? Are you talking $500 or $10,000? For a 'moderate' 8 pre-amp audio interface, you are looking about $800. It would come with basic software but $200-300 would give you a good upgrade. Then, you'll need mics, cables, etc.

B) There are multiple ways to record drums ranging from an overhead mic to separate mics on each piece. If you get an audio interface (rather than a mixer), you will find the normal units generally have either 2 or 8 pre-amps. You would need at least 6 pre-amps and might need more if you want multiple drum mics. Something like the Presonus Firestudio with a possible extension unit connected via ADAT (if needed) might be OK.

D) Mac/PC is personal choice. But, in general, Firewire or PCI is much prefered over USB. If you do go USB, make sure it is USB2. AC/DC was a joke :)