Looking to get into drum recording

Hello, I want to get into drum recording and I was wondering if any of you could help me. I am looking for a sound something like these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKwNdDRExEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIMtCyTlSGA

My local musical store, Sam ash, has them so I when in and took a look around. I talked to a guy who recommend me a $500 MIDI interface something like the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (I'm not sure which one was in store.) I don't have that kind of budget. My original plan was to get something like the Alesis MultiMix 16 USB FX 16-Channel Mixer but the guy told me it wont record into individual tracks, so thats when he showed me the $500 interface. Do I need something like that? Or will something like the TASCAM US-1800 work just fine? If you have any recommendations on a interface/mixer and microphones I would love to here them!
 
The general consensus is that fewer quality mics are better than a higher quantity of cheap mics.

Start with a 4 mic core. Fewer cables, fewer stands. Fewer input channels on your interface. Fewer channels to mix and worry about phase. Lower HDD storage requirements. Less setup time. 50% less hassle than the Samson, and you end up with 4 nice/diverse mics that you can use for other instruments besides drums or resell if needed.

I just purchased a 4 mic setup here and have samples of the results.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121114
 
The general consensus is that fewer quality mics are better than a higher quantity of cheap mics.

Start with a 4 mic core. Fewer cables, fewer stands. Fewer input channels on your interface. Fewer channels to mix and worry about phase. Lower HDD storage requirements. Less setup time. 50% less hassle than the Samson, and you end up with 4 nice/diverse mics that you can use for other instruments besides drums or resell if needed.

I just purchased a 4 mic setup here and have samples of the results.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121114

That sounds really good! The only problem with this I think Is that I will be playing hard rock-metal so a lot of double bass and cymbals. My current set up right now is a 7-piece kit ( 3 mounted toms, 2 floor,1 snare, and 1 bass drum.) I also have 4 cymbals not including the hi-hat. I just think 4 microphones won't really cut it for my set. Then again, what do I know? I am new to drum recording.
 
Then again, what do I know? I am new to drum recording.

With the "7 piece mic kits", you get two narrow condenser mics up top, and they do a fairly good job in XY or ORTF capturing all of the cymbals. They have a fairly narrow focus, so positioning is critical. Tom mics capture the tom sounds.

With the 4 mic setup, you use (AT 2020) large-diaphragm condensers as overheads. The focus is very wide. The only thing you need to check for is equidistance. It captures both the toms and the cymbals just fine.

Full-Compas's AT2020 blurb

Listen to the toms/cymbals: http://youtu.be/MqiahLv8NFI If I want to bring the toms down in the mix, I simply cut the lows.

Primer on overhead Mic Positioning from sonic scoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bct-5YbKGlU
 
With the "7 piece mic kits", you get two narrow condenser mics up top, and they do a fairly good job in XY or ORTF capturing all of the cymbals. They have a fairly narrow focus, so positioning is critical. Tom mics capture the tom sounds.

With the 4 mic setup, you use (AT 2020) large-diaphragm condensers as overheads. The focus is very wide. The only thing you need to check for is equidistance. It captures both the toms and the cymbals just fine.

Full-Compas's AT2020 blurb

Listen to the toms/cymbals: http://youtu.be/MqiahLv8NFI If I want to bring the toms down in the mix, I simply cut the lows.

Primer on overhead Mic Positioning from sonic scoop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bct-5YbKGlU

Ok, If I went for the few better quality microphone route. I am spending a bit more money than I would like. For an example, your personal set up would cost me about $856.94 without the cables. I wanted to keep my final price around $600.

I understand why you would say get fewer better quality microphones than more cheaper microphones, but to be honest I kinda like the sound of the CAD PRO-7 or the Samson 7 Mic Kit mic tests that I have seen videos on YouTube.
 
I understand why you would say get fewer better quality microphones than more cheaper microphones, but to be honest I kinda like the sound of the CAD PRO-7 or the Samson 7 Mic Kit mic tests that I have seen videos on YouTube.

Indeed. Ultimately, do what makes you happy.

Note:
Used 57 - 75
Used 602 - 100
two new AT2020's - 160
4 Cables / stands - 120
Used R16 - 275

With taxes/shipping, I made out for about $800 and change
 
Ok, If I went for the few better quality microphone route. I am spending a bit more money than I would like...

Possibly.

But you're only spending it once.

I know nothing about recording, but I know a great deal about spending money on equipment for hobbies. And the one thing that I've learnt is that spending more money on better equipment stings, but stings less than first spending less money on inferior equipment followed by spending more money on better equipment.
 
Possibly.

But you're only spending it once.

I know nothing about recording, but I know a great deal about spending money on equipment for hobbies. And the one thing that I've learnt is that spending more money on better equipment stings, but stings less than first spending less money on inferior equipment followed by spending more money on better equipment.

I see what you mean here, but I don't know how long I'm going to be into drum recording, so I don't want to go out and spend a bunch of money on premium equipment that I may not use after a wile. You have a very good point though and I will definitely keep that in mind now.

Thanks
 
Ok, I think I have decided to go with the Samson 7 or 8 piece mic kit for my mics because one of my favorite YouTube drummers uses them (Cobus Potgieter). Now What about an interface? I would like the ability to record every mic onto it's own track/channel so I can EQ each separately. My budget for one is around the $200 maybe a bit more if it was completely worth it.
 
Ok, I think I have decided to go with the Samson 7 or 8 piece mic kit for my mics because one of my favorite YouTube drummers uses them (Cobus Potgieter). Now What about an interface? I would like the ability to record every mic onto it's own track/channel so I can EQ each separately. My budget for one is around the $200 maybe a bit more if it was completely worth it.

Let me put my $.02 in this discussion. I record at home in my garage and I have done a lot of experimenting in this arena. Mostly my son and I play together. He plays his guitars and I play my drums together with him. So, we have his guitar cabinet miked up along with all my drums. I use the TASCAM-1800 because of the number of inputs it gives.

So, I have my drums miked as follows: Kick has an Audix D6 mounted in the drum using the Kelly Shu system. My snare is only top miced with an Audix i5. My 8 and 10" toms are miced with cheap KAM tom mics but they sound awesome. My 12" tom has an Audix D2. My 14 and 16" toms use an Audix D4 each. I use 2 Audio-Technica AT-2040 overheads. And Audix f series condensors for my hi hats and ride. The 2 high pitched octobans are miced with 2 Shure SM57's and the low pitched ones use a Audix f90 condensor.
The aux snare and jam blocks etc... use an SM57. My octos and hats and aux snare are routed through a Behringer mixer, which plugs into the back side of my TASCAM unit as a line in. All of the other drum mics are routed to the TASCAM directly as you can see in the pics. My TASCAM is plugged into my PC via USB and I use Reaper software to record, mix, etc. We use really good quality Shure headphones so we can only hear ourselves through the mics and not externally and a Presonus headphone amplifier and splitter. I also use M Audio BX series monitors so I can hear the music externally. As you can imagine, all this equipment cost a lot of money. Not to mention the drums themselves and guitars. And the learning curve for recording and mixing is huge, but there are a lot of helpful sites out there.

Our latest impromptu jam

















 
As I am watching videos of the Samson 8 Kit microphone set, how come some of them sound good and some of them sound not as good?

Mixing, EQ, Treatment (compression, reverb), mic placement, instrument tuning, instrument quality, performer quality, the room, interface used, preamp used.
 
Mixing, EQ, Treatment (compression, reverb), mic placement, instrument tuning, instrument quality, performer quality, the room, interface used, preamp used.

What if I didn't get a pre amp? What would the affect be if I didn't get one and what would the effect be I I got one?
 
I'm with Billy Ray, and I use a Zoom R16 too.

I get that computer recording is the thing to do these days, but it's puzzling that to many people it seems to be the only way to do things now. The R16 can do all your recording onto an SD card and you can mix down from there to stereo, and not use a computer at all.

The R16 can also be an 8-channel IN USB interface into a computer if you want to do that, but you don't have to. This is what makes the R16 (and R24) such cool devices because they can be standalone in addition to being the front-end of a computer rig. But I think if you know nothing about recording, throwing a computer into the process just makes everything unnecessarily difficult. You need to learn how to mic up a kit and how to get a good sound recorded. You do not need to be spending time on the digital recording learning curve by configuring your USB interface, then learning how that talks to the audio recording program within your computer, etc.,....

There will be a slight learning curve just learning how to run the recorder, but that's all there should be. It's easier to envision what you want to do after you know what you're trying to do. Let's put the horse before the cart and say you need to be able to take some mics, and how do you position those to get a good sound into the recorder? Start there. You can do that with just two mics.

My two cents.
 
I recently graduated to higher quality mic-s. I have begun to use a Shure SM57 on my snare. On my toms I still use less expensive Nady mic-s. I use reasonable quality condenser overheads. I also use a Mixer and an Interface. My results have been very good. I will gradually progress to using more pro level mic-s like the SM57 in the near future.
Learning how to EQ drums is also important. I spent a good bit of time experimenting and learning. It is fun to record your drums and your band.
 

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