Drum Miking, Mixing, and Recording

T

ThriftyDrifter

Junior Member
I'm thinking of either buying drum mics and a mixer to record my drums or getting acoustic triggers to use along with an Alesis i/o Trigger to USB interface. Either way, I'm running into issues when it comes to the software portion of recording. Not sure what I would need for either setup. Ideally i could just use Garage Band, but I'm just not sure. Can anyone suggest a setup they have now that's fairly simple.
 
Equation audio alpha drum mic set
Tascam 1641 usb recording interface
Computer running Cakewalk Sonor

works beautifully...
 
what's your budget?

I'm looking at getting the Zoom R16 soon (around $400 us, used can be cheaper). It's got onboard mics that can record fairly well, but you also have 8 XLR/ 1/4" inputs. It's a stand alone multitrack recorder but also can be used as an interface. I like the fact that you can do all the recording on the unit itself putting less stress on your computer. A few people on the forum uses the R16.
 
If you add that Tascam US-1641 to your mac, you can plug in up to eight mics to it, and record 8-tracks at a time into GarageBand. That would be the easiest since you have the computer. If you want to avoid the computer, I think the Zoom R16 or the more expensive R24 are the only ways to go to do it on a budget.
 
Bo Eder said:
If you add that Tascam US-1641 to your mac, you can plug in up to eight mics to it, and record 8-tracks at a time into GarageBand. That would be the easiest since you have the computer. If you want to avoid the computer, I think the Zoom R16 or the more expensive R24 are the only ways to go to do it on a budget.
Click to expand...

Big fan of the TASCAM US-1641...don't know what GarageBand's limitations are, but I record 14 tracks simultaneously with mine into Cakewalk Sonar Producer 8! (8x Pre-Amp XLRs on the unit itself, plus 6x more from an external Pre-Amp XLR into the line level inputs on the unit).

The TASCAM US-1641 is around $200-300. A decent additional pre-amp is $100-200 (to give you more inputs, if you need them).

Like said, you can use GarageBand (heard nothing but good reviews from Mac users with the US-1641) or you can get one of the other more common DAWs for Mac (Reason, I believe is one of them).

Just know that ProTools won't be an option unless you drop big money for some of the nicer DigiDesign stuff (like the Digi 3 Rack+ Factory).
 
simmsdn said:
Big fan of the TASCAM US-1641...don't know what GarageBand's limitations are, but I record 14 tracks simultaneously with mine into Cakewalk Sonar Producer 8! (8x Pre-Amp XLRs on the unit itself, plus 6x more from an external Pre-Amp XLR into the line level inputs on the unit).

The TASCAM US-1641 is around $200-300. A decent additional pre-amp is $100-200 (to give you more inputs, if you need them).

Like said, you can use GarageBand (heard nothing but good reviews from Mac users with the US-1641) or you can get one of the other more common DAWs for Mac (Reason, I believe is one of them).

Just know that ProTools won't be an option unless you drop big money for some of the nicer DigiDesign stuff (like the Digi 3 Rack+ Factory).
Click to expand...

GarageBand's limitations are 8-simultaneous tracks recorded at a time. It's a perfect match with the Tascam's 8 XLRs. The stuff built-in to GarageBand is actually very good, and considering it's free with the mac, you can't go wrong!
 
Bo Eder said:
GarageBand's limitations are 8-simultaneous tracks recorded at a time. It's a perfect match with the Tascam's 8 XLRs. The stuff built-in to GarageBand is actually very good, and considering it's free with the mac, you can't go wrong!
Click to expand...

Don't foget the US-1641 also has 2x unbalanced line-level inputs (Direct Box) for guitar/bass. Very handy for recording an entire band at once!
 
If its for just listening back to hear yourself playing and stuff like that then mics a mixer and a zoom h4 (line 1 line2 from mixer) would suit you just fine. zoom h4 allow you to transfer the file into your computer via usb and from there you could use a program like nero wave editor to add effects. (eq reverb etc...)
 
I'm envisioning this will be mostly for reference so the Tascam/Garage Band route seems like a good one. And I can always upgrade software later. Plus, I'll only be recording kick, snare, and cymbals at first, along with maybe one or two people I jam with so 8 tracks into Garage Band should be good enough for me to get a start on recording.
 
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