i need some help. we have no idea how to record our drum set. we have experience with recording guitar and vocals, but not the drums we just got. here is our setup: 5 piece set(standard) hi-hat and crash. we record acoustic guitar and vocals thru M-audio firewire solo recording interface. the guitar is recorded a Behringer b-5 condenser "pencil" mic. vocals are recorded thru CAD large diaphragm mic. now that you know what we have. tell us what we need. I need to know what equipment to get, how many mic and what type, and anything else you guys can help me with. keep in mind we are 20-somethings recording in a basement and we dont have deep pockets. any help would be greaty appreciated. thanks.
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Does the CAD mic have a pad switch? You may be able to get a dec
Does the CAD mic have a pad switch? You may be able to get a decent kick sound from it if so, in which case hanging the behringer over the kit and positioning it carefully might give you a useable mono recording. Adding another behringer mic would be the cheapest way to record in stereo (try the [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.recordin…"]recorderman technique[/]="http://www.recordin…"]recorderman technique[/]) although a matched stereo pair would be preferable.
If the CAD mic has no pad (or doesn't suit the drum) you may need to buy a kick mic. The obvious choice would be something like the AKG D112, which is designed specifically for the job.. however, in my experience if the kick sounds great anyway a less coloured mic can often be better, and will be more useful on other sources.
For example: I work with a drummer at the moment who has two different kits. Although he owns a D112, so far the best results have come from a Sennheiser MD421 inside one kick (a classic general purpose speech and music mic) and a Blue Ball just outside the other!
Look out for a second-hand Beyer M88 too. Although these are actually vocal mics (and can be very useful as such because they sound great and have excellent off-axis rejection) they are also well known as kick drum mics as they go nice and low and preserve the transients well. They can also be pressed into service on guitar & bass cabs, percussion, brass etc. :)
My advice would be to record two mics for now, one on the kick a
My advice would be to record two mics for now, one on the kick and one overhead. Experiment with different mic positions to get the best sound from the kick and the best balance from the overhead, and record them to seperate tracks in your DAW (your interface has only 2 analog inputs, correct?)
Now, if you have problems with the drum sound that you can't fix with mic positioning / room damping / mild processing, try to address them first at source. If the toms are too quiet try tuning them differently, or changing the heads, or if the cymbals are overpowering buy some different ones, or hit them less hard..
If your kit already sounds good enough to be recorded convincingly with just 2 mics, then it might be worth budgeting for a multi-channel interface, a bunch of pre-amps and a box of mics to give you more control over the sound in the mix.. but 2 mics on a good kit will always sound better than 12 mics on a bad one IMO!
Heres what to do, buy one of those mic packs from audix, or shu
Heres what to do,
buy one of those mic packs from audix, or shure, or who ever really. make sure it has 2 overhead mics, a kick mic and 3 more dynamic mics, (1 for the snare, and 2 for the toms).
then get stands for all the mics, and or drum mount clips, which ever you prefer.
then the most important peice of info, is to tune the drums and make them sound good, the mics don't make the drums sound good, the drums themsleves do.
then stick the kick mic into the hole on you kick so that the entire mic is in there, but don't stick it too far in, then put the tom and snare mics about 2in. from the rim pointing at the spot the drum is being hit at. and then have the overheads over top the drums even spread out about 3-4ft,
and then experiment, practice and trying different placement is the best way to learn, do what sounds best, or do what you need to give you the sound you are looking for.
then you can after you get the basics down for mic setup you can start thinking of compressors and eq settings for various drums
I'd give you an answer but it would be very long and boring. My
I'd give you an answer but it would be very long and boring. My first suggestion is for you guys to buy a book about home recording. I know it's bout $30 but it will be a lot more complete than any 5 lines answer on these forums. Your next questions are gonna be: "what condensers for OH?" or "do you use a bottom mic for the snare?" and for these topics there is planty of answers already posted in the forum. Sorry for the laziness..
Bas.