im kind of a noobie, so i am here to ask questions

DrJuanitor

Member
So ive been playing on a drumset for over 5 years now. I just recently bought my first sort of legit drumset.(heres a link to what i got http://www.siglermusiconline.com/st...Birch-5-PC-Drum-Set-with-Hardware-28p2839.htm, its called a Custom Classic Pro Birch). Well anyways, ive been playing on this set for about 5 or 6 months now and i think it sounds just fine, even though i havent gotten any new heads for it. Well to what im here for, i dont really get out to play much except for a blues group i played for. So ive become interested in recording. I dont have much money to pay for really good equipment so i would like to know whats the cheap but good quality mics/mixers/ect. I also need to know what kind of cords would need to go with each individual mic. I guess the easiest way to put this is can you guys make a shopping list starting from scratch for every little piece of equipment i will need to record a semi decent session. that means mics, cords, software, mixers and what ever else is needed. It would be greatly appreciated if i could get some kind of insight or advice. Thanks all!
 
There are a couple of things that you will have to elaborate on before people can help. The first is your budget and the second is on how you expect to use the final product.

Dennis
 
Welcome to the forum.

Yes - like audiotech said. And it would be helpful to come up with a thread title that makes it clear what the thread is about so people can chime in if interested. There's so many "WTF???" "I don't know..." "Please anybody help me" "What do you think?" ";-)" "Oops.." threads... I hate that!

Don't get me wrong ;-) PS: Posting questions is the most natural thing on a forum, no matter the number of your posts. Don't believe that with more experience, you'll run out of questions, haha. Quite the opposite!
 
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haha sorry for not specifying my budget. its actually pretty crappy. im trying to save but also not spend everything at once. right now i only plan to spend around 300$ but thatll probably be for tuning up my drumset and getting better hardware. With whats left over and what ever i can save for the next year or so, i would say maybe a 1000$ budget. btw, i want to just record covers for youtube and such, nothing really important that needs the high tech stuff.
 
To do basic recording of a drumkit onto a computer the least that you will need is a mic that plugs into the usb port. these are inexpensive and they come with all that is needed to plug and play. I use one that is made by Samson. Cost, about $120
You will need to use Audacity or Garage Band, etc as software.

If you want to mic every drum then you will need a mixer that has a usb or a fire wire computer interface output.
You will also need a mic and an XLR cable for every drum plus one or two condenser mic's for overhead. you will also need mic stands or rim clamp mic holders for every mic.
This is very expensive but it is much better than the single usb interface mic.
You can probably buy everything used for about $1000.

You will also need noise reduction headphones. cost about $150
 
im just looking for the best way/cheapest way to make it so i could do a drum cover or something along those lines. But thank you for all of the feed back!!
 
The cheapest way would be to use a decent camera and use video editing software. Record yourself playing with Vic firth headphones or such (plugged into an ipod) and then open the editing software and add the real track in, do some audio editing, and that's it. It's pretty easy.
 
so you would say using just a camera and one mic that can record fairly well could be fine for the kind of recording i want to do?
 
so you would say using just a camera and one mic that can record fairly well could be fine for the kind of recording i want to do?

Obviously if you had a mic per drum it would be easier to mix levels etc - i'd recommend using a free editing ptogramme like audacity.com and record directly into that, then you can hopefully get a better overall audio mix.

You would then need to import the media from your camera to an editing programme - you can get a trial of powerdirector for 30 days but there are others out there, once you have a good audio mix you need to sync the two together and render before uploading to youtube or similar.

Hope that helped in some way

Dan
 
Being a musician on a budget myself I'll give you the least expensive way you can get decent recordings and if you want to spend more and upgrade you can later on. First thing you need is mics. Unfortunately getting good mics for drums can get very costly, being that you should have several mics, and drums are the hardest instrument to record. You can either buy a low end mic drum pack, probably a 4 or 5 piece that clip onto your drums, or you can get some condenser mics. I would recommend getting the condenser mics, look for used ones, SM57's are pretty much the go to mics for drum recordings. If you can get 2 good condenser mics you can set them up as overheads in an XY pattern and that will be sufficient enough for now.

Next of course is how you will record these mics, you can either record to your computer or to a separate device. Here is the factor, do you want to be able to record each mic as a separate track, or do you care if they all get recorded onto one track? Most devices will record onto one track, which is fine, but gives you much less freedom if you are planning to do any sort of editing. Unless you are willing to spend over $400 you will most likely not be recording in multi track. There are several input devices that will let you record onto you computer, but the main thing for now would probably be the number of inputs. You always want to buy something with more inputs, in case you ever decide to add more mics. I would recommend the Alesis USB mixers, there is an 8 input one for relatively cheap, this will allow you to go straight to your computer through the USB for recording. You could also get a standalone recorder, usually flash now, they let you record directly onto the device and later transfer them to a computer, I'm not too familiar with these, but you may be able to find a cheap one that lets you record in multitrack.

On your computer you need a program to record and edit your stuff, a free one is Audacity, for being free it is a pretty good program. Otherwise there are several you can buy;ie pro-tools.. So that's pretty much everything, I think? Some advice: good mics make good recordings, if you are going to splurge on one thing make it your mics. Also, good recordings are all in the prep work, make sure the sound you record is something you are happy with, never think you can edit it later to make it sound good. Also, always look for used gear first, there is no reason to buy new gear nowadays, look on craigslist or ebay, you can find some great deals and get very good equipment for a fraction of the cost. Sorry for the super long explanation, I could write more if you want!
 
Being a musician on a budget myself I'll give you the least expensive way you can get decent recordings and if you want to spend more and upgrade you can later on. First thing you need is mics. Unfortunately getting good mics for drums can get very costly, being that you should have several mics, and drums are the hardest instrument to record. You can either buy a low end mic drum pack, probably a 4 or 5 piece that clip onto your drums, or you can get some condenser mics. I would recommend getting the condenser mics, look for used ones, SM57's are pretty much the go to mics for drum recordings. If you can get 2 good condenser mics you can set them up as overheads in an XY pattern and that will be sufficient enough for now.

Next of course is how you will record these mics, you can either record to your computer or to a separate device. Here is the factor, do you want to be able to record each mic as a separate track, or do you care if they all get recorded onto one track? Most devices will record onto one track, which is fine, but gives you much less freedom if you are planning to do any sort of editing. Unless you are willing to spend over $400 you will most likely not be recording in multi track. There are several input devices that will let you record onto you computer, but the main thing for now would probably be the number of inputs. You always want to buy something with more inputs, in case you ever decide to add more mics. I would recommend the Alesis USB mixers, there is an 8 input one for relatively cheap, this will allow you to go straight to your computer through the USB for recording. You could also get a standalone recorder, usually flash now, they let you record directly onto the device and later transfer them to a computer, I'm not too familiar with these, but you may be able to find a cheap one that lets you record in multitrack.

On your computer you need a program to record and edit your stuff, a free one is Audacity, for being free it is a pretty good program. Otherwise there are several you can buy;ie pro-tools.. So that's pretty much everything, I think? Some advice: good mics make good recordings, if you are going to splurge on one thing make it your mics. Also, good recordings are all in the prep work, make sure the sound you record is something you are happy with, never think you can edit it later to make it sound good. Also, always look for used gear first, there is no reason to buy new gear nowadays, look on craigslist or ebay, you can find some great deals and get very good equipment for a fraction of the cost. Sorry for the super long explanation, I could write more if you want!

this is a real late response, i havent checked back in a while. but this is very helpful! so say, using two conderser mics for overhead mics would be sufficient enough. now i would need a mixer or whatever right?(something like this http://www.samash.com/p/Tascam_US100%20USB%20Audio%20Interface_-49953880
 
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