Would you be comfortable recording with a top quality e-drum kit?

conman013

Junior Member
Im putting together a business plan for a mobile recording studio I am planning to open in my town. I dont wanna get into too much details about it, but an electronic drum set would be very convenient in my situation of how Im going to set things up. I plan to use the drums simply as a trigger, while I use Superior Drummer 2.0 for the samples.

What is need to know, is if you were to pay for a recording with the convenience of the studio coming to you, instead of you traveling to the studio, would you be comfortable recording with an electronic drum set?
 
for getting demo's down I don't have a problem using a low end roland td4 so I certainly wouldn't mind at all.
this is always going to boil down to people preference, I'm sure you'll have an equal measure of lovers and haters.
 
I think most players are most comfortable on their own kit. Obviously, e-kit regulars will be more comfortable with your setup than acoustic players.
 
I'd rather make my recording on a crappy entry level acoustic kit than a top quality E-kit.
 
I guess for some things it would be acceptable-- demos, certain commercial jobs. Anything where an anonymous, canned sound is ok. I know a guy who does a lot of that kind of thing, and the electronics work well for him. I would never use that type of set up on any creative project of my own, and would resist using it on any work for hire that is going to have my name attached to it.
 
In general, there's nothing wrong with an e-kit and great drum samples. E-cymbals are still an issue, and that's where you'll meet the most resistance*. An e-kit with live cymbals is ideal, I've done this before with perfect results, undetecable even to my ear. But, you then run into having to use mics where eliminating/minimizing them is probably the goal.

Also note that an e-kit is not suitable for certain genres, Jazz in particular... as if you'd get a jazz guy to sit behind an e-kit in the first place! :)

But the concept of a self-contained mobile studio lends itself more towards demos and such. It's unlikely that a band would cut a commercial album that way. Also, with the advent of easier recording software, a lot of musicians are already recording direct with e-kits, or simply sequencing the drums, at home. Or, almost anywhere for that matter.

It's an interesting idea, but gonna be a hard sell.

Bermuda

* It's not that there aren't great cymbal samples available... it's that they don't respond to pad/trigger playing in the same way a live cymbal does, and that's both a playability and obvious sonic issue. Drum sounds are somewhat more forgiving, so success with them is much better.
 
I do quite a bit of recording on my e-kit, so I personally would not have a problem with it.

The real problem I see is using superior drummer for the actual sounds. If you buy a high end Roland the drum sounds from the brain are better than superior drummer because they allow for dynamic changes based on the strength of the stick hit.

I would also recommend getting the Zildjian Gen 16 brain. By far the best e-cymbal sounds I have ever heard. Far better than the canned superior drummer cymbal sounds.
 
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