Drum Recording

[Hadji]

Hey guys. I figured you would all be the best to ask as to the recording quality of the most recent recording I did. This is not me playing. It is the drummer for my band. If you could give it a listen and tell me what you all think and what you think should be changed as far as the sound, EQing, etc. of the recording, I'd appriciate it.

http://www.vandalayindust.com/gd_drums2.mp3

[fatcow2000]

great, he's offtime just a bit on a few of the parts. the drums sound nice though.

wat are you recording on?

[Hadji]

I'm going into two mixers that are going into my computer. I get 3 tracks out of it to mix from. I put kick on one, overheads on one, and toms and snare on the last one. From there I simulated a room mic for the background reverb. If you want, I can give a list of the mics I used for each part of the kit.

[White]

That Was Really Good, Ya I would Love A LIst OF All The Mics, In the Futur Some Time I Plan on Buying Mics, so ya, List Please

[Hadji]

Stereo Overheads - 2 PG81's
Snare - SM58
Toms - PG56's (one for each)
Kick - PG52

All mics are Shure incase you aren't savy to model names and the companies they go with.

[White]

Stereo Overheads - 2 PG81's
Snare - SM58
Toms - PG56's (one for each)
Kick - PG52

All mics are Shure incase you aren't savy to model names and the companies they go with.
Thanks, when I look into buying some mics ill checki those out, cause they sounded wicked

[Hadji]

I wouldn't recommend those mics if you are starting from scratch buying mics for recording.

EDIT: I guess I should add more than that so I don't just sound like a goober. Instead of the 58, I'd go for a 57 for snare. The only reason I had to use a 58 was because we had it for vocals and didn't have the money to buy a 57. Also, a lot of the sound is mixing. If you are going to be recording drums, get good at it. The overheads work, but I might go for large diaphram condensers rather than the small diaphram condensers that the PG81's are. I haven't looked at condenser prices for a while though, so I'm not sure what you'll have to pay.

[fatcow2000]

thats pretty smooth, im going to be doing the same thing pretty soon. cough*december*cough, one mixer though.

[Hadji]

thats pretty smooth, im going to be doing the same thing pretty soon. cough*december*cough, one mixer though.
If you can, get stereo into your computer and split it into 2 mono tracks. You can pan the kick and cymbals hard left and the snare and toms hard right and get at least some degree of isolation of your different drums for mixing.

[fatcow2000]

If you can, get stereo into your computer and split it into 2 mono tracks. You can pan the kick and cymbals hard left and the snare and toms hard right and get at least some degree of isolation of your different drums for mixing.

im kind of new at the whole recording thing... im just trying to get things 'radio quality'. but ill look into that:p

[Hadji]

http://www.zzounds.com/item--SHUPGDMK4

If you can pick that up, it'll really help out when you start recording.

[fatcow2000]

thanks, ive got the mics already though. (myspace.com/panixmusic), im whoring again... im just new to recording on the computer, its cool though.

[Canadian_Drummer]

what do you have like what mixers, and software i have cakewalk and im looking to buy a firewall

[Hadji]

I think I have a Yamaha 8/2 and a 12/4, but I could be wrong. I never really pay attention to the model numbers on them. I run the snare, kick, and toms into my larger mixer (mixer1) and use stereo to split them up. Kick goes hard left, snare and toms go hard right. I run RCA jacks from mixer 1 to my computer's soundcard (Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. Not good for recording. I wish I would have known that when I dropped 200USD on it...). I run my stereo overheads into the smaller mixer (mixer 2) and then run that in mono into my PodXT (used for guitar recording) and send that into the computer using USB. In my recording program (Adobe Audition) I set one track up as SoundBlaster right, one as SoundBlaster left, and one as PodXT. This gives me 3 tracks of drums and the most seperation I can get using 2 mixers.

[fatcow2000]

^^^ i thought your drums sounded like they were recorded on adobe audition, lol... i use the same thing:-D it picks it all up really well (drums, guitars, etc).

thats cool dude.

[Hadji]

If you have any other questions, I'm not an expert, but I've picked up a few tricks along the way. Go ahead and ask anything regarding drum recording and I'll answer as best I can.

[Chippy569]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm i guess it's definitely no biggie but if you could spit the overheads to L and R at least, you could get some stereo imaging of the kit.

the eq and effects sound fine for a myspace song. the playing is very decent as well!

[fatcow2000]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm i guess it's definitely no biggie but if you could spit the overheads to L and R at least, you could get some stereo imaging of the kit.

the eq and effects sound fine for a myspace song. the playing is very decent as well!

;) that was recorded with one mic and no mixer... we're using the full set for the cd... december?... we're investing in some XLR's right now, and thank you for the comp.:D

[stop coming to my house]

Also, a lot of the sound is mixing. If you are going to be recording drums, get good at it.

i would not rely on mixing to make my drums sound nice. i try to get them sounding how i want raw, and then use minimal processing to clean them up a little. the general rule is, if you've got a bad sound coming in then no matter how much you process the track, on some level its not going to sound good.

[Canadian_Drummer]

i would not rely on mixing to make my drums sound nice. i try to get them sounding how i want raw, and then use minimal processing to clean them up a little. the general rule is, if you've got a bad sound coming in then no matter how much you process the track, on some level its not going to sound good.

hahahaha, you'd be suprised

[DxRocker]

Sounds good to me. I'ld put a little more punch in the bass and make the snare a little sharper though, but I guess that's how I like my drums to sound.

Pretty good overall though :thumb:

[Obelisk]

hahahaha, you'd be suprised

Technically one could trigger a fart to sound like angels singing.

[blujelly]

damn that is some good little solo there

[dairyairman]

that's pretty good. it sounds to me like the highs are EQ'ed down a little. i would bring them up a bit. overall though, it sounds good.

[-Obscurity-]

If you can, get stereo into your computer and split it into 2 mono tracks. You can pan the kick and cymbals hard left and the snare and toms hard right and get at least some degree of isolation of your different drums for mixing.

Panning the kick is a big no-no.

[RushHourSoul]

^ Have to agree with that, try to keep the snare & bass drum in the middle. Otherwise you get one side that sounds weak without it.

[Hadji]

You misunderstood what I meant. I don't pan it on the actual track, I pan it on the outputs of the mixer. One track, that plays mono through both speakers, accepts the sound from mixer1 left and the other, which also play mono through both speakers, accepts the sound from mixer1 right. That was I get 2 tracks out of 1 mixer.

[-Obscurity-]

You misunderstood what I meant. I don't pan it on the actual track, I pan it on the outputs of the mixer. One track, that plays mono through both speakers, accepts the sound from mixer1 left and the other, which also play mono through both speakers, accepts the sound from mixer1 right. That was I get 2 tracks out of 1 mixer.

Oh ok. Yeah, you can get them on seperate tracks by doing that. You do lose a bit of signal though.

[Hadji]

Oh ok. Yeah, you can get them on seperate tracks by doing that. You do lose a bit of signal though.
How do you figure?