Home recording?

Caleb7mm

Caleb7mm

Member
I need some direction to see if I’m thinking correctly. This is all brand new to me…

I want to record a drum track to put over drum less tracks (WAV and MP3 file types) to send via drop box to my sister as we collaborate on a project.

So far I have used an iPhone to record me. Then use CapCut to put me and drum less track together. It’s very crude but “works”. Problem is, you can’t hear the kick and the cymbals are just over bearing most of the time. I need the drums to be heard completely to convey what I’m writing.

Idea….this will all be run on windows 10. DAW: PreSonus studio one 6 Artist
Mics: CAD or Behringer drum mics
Audio interface: 8 channel Behringer U-PHORIA UMC1820

Play drum less audio through DAW to in ears and record drums to track. If I want video I can still use the iPhone and mute the audio in some sort of video editor to lay the finished audio track over the muted video. Is there anything I have over looked (minus cables and stands of course)?

Thank you!!
 
No experience with it, but those little zoom devices have multi track recording capabilities.
Others who have more experience will chime in with input soon.
 
You are on the right track (pun intended.)
Drums, mics, interface, computer, DAW.
Your interface needs as many mic preamps as the number of mics you want to use.
There is a learning curve involved. YouTube is a good resource. Multi track recording basics. If you are sending files back and forth you need to have a standard of exactly where a track is starting to be able to keep things synced. Look up "stems."
 
Sounds perfectly reasonable and what you don't know you can learn. Just be sure to set your DAW/interface for the lowest possible latency for your computer. Best of luck!
 
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That should work just fine.
I have a similar setup in my home studio: Shure mics -> M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R audio interface -> Reaper DAW.
Syncing audio and video is easier if you start with a clap or similar hit.
In the video editor (I'm using Vegas) you can line up the peak of the DAW recording with the iPhone audio and then mute the latter.
 
Thanks everyone! Looking forward to learning as the process moves forward. Time to start ordering new gear!
 
Yup, a DAW, an interface, good headphones, mic cables, mics, mic stands, and you're ready to record. When I began recording myself, I initially bought cheap mic boom stands (for the overhead mics). I hated that they were so flimsy but they were cheap. I also bought mic cables that worked for one setup, but when I moved my kit to another space I needed longer cables. That was annoying.

The thing that many people trip up on is audio latency. That's when you hit a drum and hear the sound a split-second later in your headphones. Typically this is fixed in the audio interface, so be aware of its recording settings to avoid latency.

Edit: Before each track begins, I click my sticks together on camera to help me sync the audio to the video.

Edit-edit: Whatever you do, don't go to Sweetwater Music. Any money you've saved up will be spent on drums and recording gear.
 
Caleb7mm said:
I need some direction to see if I’m thinking correctly. This is all brand new to me…

I want to record a drum track to put over drum less tracks (WAV and MP3 file types) to send via drop box to my sister as we collaborate on a project.

So far I have used an iPhone to record me. Then use CapCut to put me and drum less track together. It’s very crude but “works”. Problem is, you can’t hear the kick and the cymbals are just over bearing most of the time. I need the drums to be heard completely to convey what I’m writing.

Idea….this will all be run on windows 10. DAW: PreSonus studio one 6 Artist
Mics: CAD or Behringer drum mics
Audio interface: 8 channel Behringer U-PHORIA UMC1820

Play drum less audio through DAW to in ears and record drums to track. If I want video I can still use the iPhone and mute the audio in some sort of video editor to lay the finished audio track over the muted video. Is there anything I have over looked (minus cables and stands of course)?

Thank you!!
Click to expand...
you can use one output from your interface to go into your phone (using a headphone dongle) in order to record the processed audio and not the raw audio, plus to help you sync the video with the good quality audio. Now for video editing the free Davinci Resolve : https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve is great and there are tons of tutorials in YouTube. Other than that you seem to have everything else you would need.
 
cbphoto said:
Yup, a DAW, an interface, good headphones, mic cables, mics, mic stands, and you're ready to record. When I began recording myself, I initially bought cheap mic boom stands (for the overhead mics). I hated that they were so flimsy but they were cheap. I also bought mic cables that worked for one setup, but when I moved my kit to another space I needed longer cables. That was annoying.

The thing that many people trip up on is audio latency. That's when you hit a drum and hear the sound a split-second later in your headphones. Typically this is fixed in the audio interface, so be aware of its recording settings to avoid latency.

Edit: Before each track begins, I click my sticks together on camera to help me sync the audio to the video.

Edit-edit: Whatever you do, don't go to Sweetwater Music. Any money you've saved up will be spent on drums and recording gear.
Click to expand...
Keywords here "Good Headphones" that doesn't mean Beats or similar which are great to listen to music, not at all remotely good to monitor a recording because of how they process the input. For recording you will need headphones that are designed for that as they don't over- emphasize bass or other frequencies thus giving you an accurate depiction of what your mics are capturing.
Studio monitoring headphones will sound very flat (not a lot of bass not a lot of treble just like a very subdued sound) but that is what you want and also those type of headphones don't need to be super expensive either.
The headphones recommended by cbphoto are good for that.
 
Thanks everyone!! I am currently using some in ears I bought off amazon and they have worked great for playing to all my old stuff and making a few videos to track my process.
 
eric_B said:
Syncing audio and video is easier if you start with a clap or similar hit.
Click to expand...
good point. When you do it with multiple tracks sent back and forth between people things can get goofy if you are sync-ing then that way. Ask me how I know.
Also: reaper has some video editing capabilities. I've used it for a couple of videos.
 
tris66 said:
good point. When you do it with multiple tracks sent back and forth between people things can get goofy if you are sync-ing then that way. Ask me how I know.
Also: reaper has some video editing capabilities. I've used it for a couple of videos.
Click to expand...
Good to know. I’ll have to look into reaper as well. Currently looking for a new laptop to run all this stuff. I’ve always just showed up to a studio with my gear and let the pros do this part. It’s a little daunting for me
 
Caleb7mm said:
Good to know. I’ll have to look into reaper as well. Currently looking for a new laptop to run all this stuff. I’ve always just showed up to a studio with my gear and let the pros do this part. It’s a little daunting for me
Click to expand...
If you are looking for a new computer keep in mind that you need more than lots of RAM to make large projects run smoothly. You need more 'cores' to run things like multiple reverb plug ins. I'm no computer nerd. My understanding is that each core is able to run an independent calculations. Lots of tracks and lots of plug ins take lots of processing. I recently upgraded my old 2 core machine to an 8 core machine. They have the same RAM but the new machine runs projects flawlessly where the old machine would crash. There is a guy on YouTube that made a video on how he tested machines to figure out what the best amount of cores and RAM worked for what he was doing... which was symphonic pieces using plug in instruments if I remember correctly. He had graphs and charts and it was helpful to me as I was looking for a new machine.
 
tris66 said:
If you are looking for a new computer keep in mind that you need more than lots of RAM to make large projects run smoothly. You need more 'cores' to run things like multiple reverb plug ins. I'm no computer nerd. My understanding is that each core is able to run an independent calculations. Lots of tracks and lots of plug ins take lots of processing. I recently upgraded my old 2 core machine to an 8 core machine. They have the same RAM but the new machine runs projects flawlessly where the old machine would crash. There is a guy on YouTube that made a video on how he tested machines to figure out what the best amount of cores and RAM worked for what he was doing... which was symphonic pieces using plug in instruments if I remember correctly. He had graphs and charts and it was helpful to me as I was looking for a new machine.
Click to expand...
Luckily I have a young guy at work that is way smarter than me about all that. I didn’t even know what a core was until yesterday 😂
There is a couple I’m looking at now, one with 7 cores and one with 10. The ram is 16 on both which I have to ask him about today because I have no idea if that is okay or not.
 
tris66 said:
good point. When you do it with multiple tracks sent back and forth between people things can get goofy if you are sync-ing then that way. Ask me how I know.
Also: reaper has some video editing capabilities. I've used it for a couple of videos.
Click to expand...
Reaper for audio and Davinci Resolve for video, Davinci even has a built in audio app which will be great for small adjustments and you might not even need reaper for a lot of things but I say use the right tools for the right job and you will get better results.
 
Caleb7mm said:
Good to know. I’ll have to look into reaper as well. Currently looking for a new laptop to run all this stuff. I’ve always just showed up to a studio with my gear and let the pros do this part. It’s a little daunting for me
Click to expand...
Other than actually taking a course for specific software, the way I learn how to use it is by...using it.
Very basic things at first, then as my needs grow, I have to do more and therefore need to "figure out" how to do something. It is at that point that I do a search and I find either a webpage with a tutorial or even better, some YouTube video showing how to do it. I create a folder where I have all those tutorials saved for later use. (Some things you don't do often so it's easy to forget and you don't want to waste time looking for a tutorial again).
Eventually I can do pretty much everything I need to do for my projects.
Of course, I am not a pro at using those programs but for my use I do just fine. Don't let the complicated interface and the multitude of features intimidate you into not trying, we all start somewhere.
Get the best laptop you can afford, but (and this is important) even with the best specs, it will pay off to optimize (configure things for best possible performance).
 
tris66 said:
If you are looking for a new computer keep in mind that you need more than lots of RAM to make large projects run smoothly. You need more 'cores' to run things like multiple reverb plug ins. I'm no computer nerd. My understanding is that each core is able to run an independent calculations. Lots of tracks and lots of plug ins take lots of processing. I recently upgraded my old 2 core machine to an 8 core machine. They have the same RAM but the new machine runs projects flawlessly where the old machine would crash. There is a guy on YouTube that made a video on how he tested machines to figure out what the best amount of cores and RAM worked for what he was doing... which was symphonic pieces using plug in instruments if I remember correctly. He had graphs and charts and it was helpful to me as I was looking for a new machine.
Click to expand...
You are correct, but when you create tracks with lots of effects, you can also enable and disable those effects when testing other tracks to reduce the amount of things needing to be processed. (Say you have 2 different instances of Superior Drummer running because you are using 2 different packages for whatever sounds you are after), you should disable one of them when working with the tracks that use the other and so on and same applies for all other plugins, unless you need them active to modify parameters, always disable what you don't and only enable it when you do.
 
I have to say half a year ago I finally upgraded my over 10 year old home studio PC.
It was still working fine using Reaper, Addictive Drums / Keys and a lot of other music software.
I don't have dozens of tracks and/or very demanding plugins running though.

BTW: I can recommend Reaper as a DAW, I have been using it for over a decade.
Cheap, stable, light on resources, a very active community, great stock plugins (although they look simple).
And there are great video tutorials over at Reaper Mania:
https://www.youtube.com/@REAPERMania
 
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doggyd69b said:
You are correct, but when you create tracks with lots of effects, you can also enable and disable those effects when testing other tracks to reduce the amount of things needing to be processed. (Say you have 2 different instances of Superior Drummer running because you are using 2 different packages for whatever sounds you are after), you should disable one of them when working with the tracks that use the other and so on and same applies for all other plugins, unless you need them active to modify parameters, always disable what you don't and only enable it when you do.
Click to expand...
Good advice. I'm not heavy handed when it comes to using plug ins. My suggestion to @Caleb7mm was simply that he look into it, so he can make the right choice. The video I mentioned shows that after 6 cores the negative effect on output quality drops and after 8 you get diminishing returns.
I ran my old 2 core machine for probably a decade with only a few hiccups. The project that made me finally decide to upgrade had 74 tracks. Multiple tracks of hand claps, applause, backing vocals, sound effects, and all kinds of stuff including 2 tracks of plastic toy accordion.... all panned and pre-delayed to sound like they were all coming from different parts of an artificial room. (I don't think I really pulled it off but I tried.) The old machine wouldn't do it. It is impossible to mix when you turn off the fx. Can't mix what you can't hear. The new machine played it with zero problems.
 
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