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Drew · 05-12-2008, 04:47 PM

Deal, Jeff.

FoxZero, first, yeah, you can daisy chain at least two, for 16 tracks in at a time. Second, are you sure you REALLY want to close mic everything? If nothing else it gets pretty damned expensive... You're out $800 or so for a pair of Firepods/FP10's, and then you gotta start talking mics. A shit ton of SM57's plus two SDC's for overheads would probably do the trick, but even 14 SM57's are going to run you about $1400, and that's before you even start talking about your overheads, which aren't going to be any cheaper. Even budget condensers are still going to be about a hunderd a peice as well. So, $1600 minimum in mics if you want to use 16 ins (most likely more, if you get into application specific mics for things like the kick(s)), another $800 for two interfaces, and even cheap mic cables are going to add significantly, but for the sake of discussion let's say your local shop tosses them in for free or something - you're looking $2400 in hardware to record 16 tracks of drums at a time.

And then you get into phasing issues between multiple mics, isolation issues, and the fact that, say, a cymbol is going to sound WAY different mic'd near field than it will far field, where you're used to hearing it.

Honestly, if you're new to micing drums (as I am - I know just enough to know I'm a total beginner), your best bet is to go with a far simpler approach, both for the complexity that comes with dealing with phasing between that many mics, and for the exponential increase in cost that comes with it. You should be able to, given a good room, get at least servicable results with a set of decent overheads, a kick mic, a snare mic, and if you want to get crazy maybe a mic between each tom (i.e O|O|O, where the O's are toms and |'s are mics) and possibly another on the hi-hat.

Really, the two biggest determinants with getting a good drum recording, in order of reverse importance, is how good the kit itself sounds in the room (if the room is any good, if it's well tuned, et), and, the biggie, just how good your drummer is.

'course, I could be just saying this because I've got a less-than-ideal bedroom to record in, and I'm a REALLY bad drummer, so I'm open to the charge of simply making excuses for why MY drums aren't as good as they could be.

That said, I've gotten servicable results out of a kick, snare, and pair of overheads so far, and I think if I was able to record in a larger room then the kit would sound even better.

Anyway, long story short, if you're working with a drummer with a kickass kit, chops to make Portnoy look like he can't groove, and are stuck in a room with horrible acoustics where there's nothing else you can do, then close-micing every component of the kit to minimize the room sound and dealing with the near-field consequences and just using a lot of reverb to tie the kit together may be your best bet, at least if you're used to wiping your ass with $20's, lol. However, short of that, if your room isn't half bad or the guy you're tracking is the sort of drummer where no one's going to confuse him with Danny Carey anyway, then I'd recommend talking your drummer out of this approach, at least unless he wants to buy you 16 SM57's. And if he does, three hours into the setup process where you're moving around your snare mic to minimize hi-hat bleed while keeping phasing issues with the two nearest toms to a minimum, when he gives up and starts throwing shit around the room in frustration, sell me a few cheap.

05-12-2008, 04:47 PM	#35 (permalink)
Drew Fear the Polo! • Super Moderator • Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Somerville, MA Posts: 29,955 Real Name: Call me Ahab... Main Seven: 1991 Ibanez UV7PWH Main ERG: Sherman 5-string bass Rig: Mesa Recto-verb 50 Thanked: 154	Deal, Jeff. FoxZero, first, yeah, you can daisy chain at least two, for 16 tracks in at a time. Second, are you sure you REALLY want to close mic everything? If nothing else it gets pretty damned expensive... You're out $800 or so for a pair of Firepods/FP10's, and then you gotta start talking mics. A shit ton of SM57's plus two SDC's for overheads would probably do the trick, but even 14 SM57's are going to run you about $1400, and that's before you even start talking about your overheads, which aren't going to be any cheaper. Even budget condensers are still going to be about a hunderd a peice as well. So, $1600 minimum in mics if you want to use 16 ins (most likely more, if you get into application specific mics for things like the kick(s)), another $800 for two interfaces, and even cheap mic cables are going to add significantly, but for the sake of discussion let's say your local shop tosses them in for free or something - you're looking $2400 in hardware to record 16 tracks of drums at a time. And then you get into phasing issues between multiple mics, isolation issues, and the fact that, say, a cymbol is going to sound WAY different mic'd near field than it will far field, where you're used to hearing it. Honestly, if you're new to micing drums (as I am - I know just enough to know I'm a total beginner), your best bet is to go with a far simpler approach, both for the complexity that comes with dealing with phasing between that many mics, and for the exponential increase in cost that comes with it. You should be able to, given a good room, get at least servicable results with a set of decent overheads, a kick mic, a snare mic, and if you want to get crazy maybe a mic between each tom (i.e O\|O\|O, where the O's are toms and \|'s are mics) and possibly another on the hi-hat. Really, the two biggest determinants with getting a good drum recording, in order of reverse importance, is how good the kit itself sounds in the room (if the room is any good, if it's well tuned, et), and, the biggie, just how good your drummer is. 'course, I could be just saying this because I've got a less-than-ideal bedroom to record in, and I'm a REALLY bad drummer, so I'm open to the charge of simply making excuses for why MY drums aren't as good as they could be. That said, I've gotten servicable results out of a kick, snare, and pair of overheads so far, and I think if I was able to record in a larger room then the kit would sound even better. Anyway, long story short, if you're working with a drummer with a kickass kit, chops to make Portnoy look like he can't groove, and are stuck in a room with horrible acoustics where there's nothing else you can do, then close-micing every component of the kit to minimize the room sound and dealing with the near-field consequences and just using a lot of reverb to tie the kit together may be your best bet, at least if you're used to wiping your ass with $20's, lol. However, short of that, if your room isn't half bad or the guy you're tracking is the sort of drummer where no one's going to confuse him with Danny Carey anyway, then I'd recommend talking your drummer out of this approach, at least unless he wants to buy you 16 SM57's. And if he does, three hours into the setup process where you're moving around your snare mic to minimize hi-hat bleed while keeping phasing issues with the two nearest toms to a minimum, when he gives up and starts throwing shit around the room in frustration, sell me a few cheap. "...and everything under the sun is in tune, but the sun is eclipsed by the moon."