Advice needed for newbie setting up home drum recording studio

ZV Yoda

Thanks for that - yeah, balancing the budget is the real trick - one school of thought says spend the money on good mics, the other veers towards good interfaces... I suppose when you're doing it as a hobby & working to a budget you need the advice to make an informed decision.

I'll take all the advice on board when I start shopping around in a couple of weeks.

Thanks everybody!

studiorat

PS. replace any of above w/sm-57



I'd try to go towards microphones that were known to be good on other things too. Like the 57 on guitar, MK-12's for Acoustic. Kick, bass gtr. and Vocal can usually work well on the same type of microphone too, well the RE-20 but thats stoopid money..

Don't underestimate how good a Kit can sound with 3 or 4 good mic's either.
And a room mic or two with a load of compression!! I'll always try use a comedy mic too, in a stupid place or a broken mic even! Sometimes sounds like that just add some color.

Mono ribbon overhead any one?

PaulBrewer

3rd school of thought -
Go for good interface AND good mics! Just that the 'good mics' for this job are the cheap ones!

The Rat doesn't speak with a forked tongue!!

ogy

i reckon getting good interfacing going first is a good idea. if you really get into recording mics are something that you'll always use and will always buy more of. the rme shouldn't need replacing, maybe upgrading if neccesary with more channels. and yeh, you can't beat the ould 57s (well, you can, and there still deadly afterwards:)).

curse you studiorat, i really want those oktavas now, another thing for the list!:)

Carrigsound

The problem with using 2 or more mics on the same sound source is you run in to phase problems (I'm not going to try explain that one to ya), keep it simple, a couple of overheads and one in the kik.

Anyway, have a look at this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Fjuz7jXzs
If the link doesn't work do a search on youtube for "recorderman drum mic technique" .

Good luck

Liam

PaulBrewer

3 to 1 rule Carrigsound!

But let's leave that can of Phasing Worms for another day.....

ZV Yoda

Hi folks,

Any thoughts on whether the M-AUDIO DELTA 1010 is a good interface to use?... looks like it will do the trick for me in terms of 8 x inputs to record drums.

http://www.thomann.de/ie/m-audio_delta_1010.htm
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan00/articles/midiman1010.htm
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta1010-main.html

I've seen one 2nd hand for €275 & was wondering if it would be a good buy? Would appreciate any comments.

Thanks

PaulBrewer

The Delta 1010 is a line level unit only as far as I remember i.e. one can't connect mics directly to it.
So, once you have mic pre-amplifiers it could be a solution for you.

studiorat

The 10/10 is a good sounding box. It doesn't have pre amps so it's mostly useful for working with a mixing console. It's got word clock and all the ins and outs you'd expect from a professional box.

ZV Yoda

Ok, so for my next dumb question... do all mixers have pre-amps built in?... so they could be both the pre-amp & control surface for the DAW?

ogy

all mixers do have pre-amps built in, depending on the brand the quality varies. theyd probably do the job for you, but eventually you'll probably want to buy at least a pair of decent standalone preamps

all mixers won't act as control surfaces, you can use them to mix the outputs from your soundcard and then send them back in to the interface as a 2 track mix. this is mixing "out of the box" or analog summing. Generally people say its better but theres probably only a noticeable difference in fairly high end desks. they won't act as control surfaces i.e. you can't control the faders etc in cubase or whatever from the desk, only a few specialized desks do this, like the mackie onyx i think.

without a huge budget i reckon your better buying really good a/d like the fireface 800, then get some extra preamps, then mix "in the box". you can buy a midi controller if you like mixing with faders better than with a mouse. I think professional quality in the box mixing is better than amateur quality "out of the box" mixing.

ZV Yoda

Thanks Ogy…

Sorry to all for dragging this thread out , but I’m getting the gear in the next few weeks & I’m getting good advice here, so bear with me!

Having taken all the inputs to date, here’s where I’m at:

2Ghz iMac inc 2Gb RAM €1300
(I already have an external HD for back up too – I’ll keep that away from the studio)

M-Audio Projectmix I/O (inc Protools). €1300
http://www.thomann.de/ie/maudio_projectmix_iopro_tools_mp.htm
Although cheaper/better options around, I’m tied in to Protools because that’s what the other lads are using in their studios. We’re all learning as we go along, so this seems to make sense. I like the fact that the Projectmix is all in one box, so no need for pre amps, installing soundcards etc.

Mics – great discussion on this, so here’s what I’m thinking (at c.€1000, it’s more than I originally wanted to spend, but seems to make sense not to be too cheap here):

5 x SM 57s (2 x snare, 2 x rack toms, 1 x floor tom) €500
http://www.thomann.de/ie/shure_sm57lc_bundle.htm

1 x AKG D112 (bass drum) €166
http://www.thomann.de/ie/akg_d112_set.htm

OKTAVA MK 012-01 MSP2 MATCHED PAIR overheads €300
http://www.thomann.de/ie/oktava_mk_01201_mkiimatched_pair.htm

M-AUDIO BX8A monitors €400
http://www.thomann.de/ie/maudio_bx8a.htm
I know these aren’t great, but for drum mixing should be Ok & I can upgrade later if needs be. I want to keep to around €400 a pair, so any other options in this price range, let me know!

Headphones Sennheiser Hd25 €170
http://www.thomann.de/ie/sennheiser_hd25_ii.htm

So, any last comments on the above?... I think I've covered all bases, so appreciate your advice!

That gets me to about €4300 leaving about €700 out of my budget for additional cables/sink fund etc.

BTW, I’ve linked to Thomann just for ease – I’ll shop around once I’ve settled on the specifics (and no doubt some of the folks on here may have some suggestions on where to buy;)).

studiorat

Looks like a good plan to me.
Headphones, H/Phone amp, and mic stands as well as those cables....
I wonder are those sennheiser clip on drum mic's the same price as a 57 and a stand? I'm just wondering about having 5 of the same type of mic if you start to use them for different applications.

ZV Yoda

The clip on mics are about €10-15 more than the SM57s (excuding the stands) so the Sennhesiers would work out cheaper overall. You think they're a better option?... say 3 x Sennheisers for the toms with 2 SM57s for the snare instead?

alan.com

Those sennheisers are good, neater set up aswell. I'd go for them.

Also you should check out the Shure PGDMK6 drum mic package.
You'd have a PG52 kik mic,
3 PG56 for snare/toms,
and 2 PG81 OH condensers.
Incl. clamps and carry case.
It's like 430 on thomann I think.

They're good mics.
It gives you a much neater set-up aswell which is great for live.
I use this for recording drums but I use a beta 57 on snare and those 3 other mics on toms.