Home Recording Drums on a Budget

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a good Audio Interface for home recording drums that is reasonably priced? I've been looking at the Focusrite Scarlet series. However, it looks like there aren't enough lo-z inputs. Should I worry about that? Or just use some low-z and some high-z? This won't be for demoing so I want something good but I'm also not a professional. I'll go into a studio when I want something really good. I also don't really want something that is a full rack mount size if that's possible.

Also, which one of the drum-set mic sets are good for the money? There are tons of sets for 5-piece kits, what do you use?

Robin

You may want to look at the Tascam US-1800. It is USB and works fairly well.

Rapsys said:

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a good Audio Interface for home recording drums that is reasonably priced? I've been looking at the Focusrite Scarlet series. However, it looks like there aren't enough lo-z inputs. Should I worry about that? Or just use some low-z and some high-z? This won't be for demoing so I want something good but I'm also not a professional. I'll go into a studio when I want something really good. I also don't really want something that is a full rack mount size if that's possible.

Also, which one of the drum-set mic sets are good for the money? There are tons of sets for 5-piece kits, what do you use?

Robin

Click to expand...

Which model are you looking at? The 18i20 has 8 mic inputs, it can be expanded by an additional 8 via ADAT, but it is full size rack mount. The 18i8 has 4 mic inputs, it can be expanded by an additional 8 via ADAT, and it's half-rack size.

If you're looking for something simple it might be easier to use a Zoom recorder as the quality is really good. You can also get a really good sound with just 4 mics ... 2 x overheads + kick + snare. I would avoid most drum mic sets as many are false economy ... on the low end you get a whole bunch of mediocre mics with nothing good, and it ends up sounding that way. I would make my own "drum mic set" with a good kick mic (e.g. AKG D112), good snare mic (e.g. Shure SM57), and a good pair of LDC overheads (best you can afford).

I've gotten good results with some cheap Carvin mics and the Akai interface. Google Recorderman or Gly Johns.