Basic recording setup?

Mastiff

Senior Member
I'm consider a basic mixing/recording setup so I can:

a) Get the different drums mixed properly while using hearing protection during practice, instead of just accepting what happens passively (e.g. bass drum hard to hear)

b) Practice along with music, again with the right mix between all the drums and the music itself

c) Hear myself back from recording for some honest reflection

d) Possibly do some online sharing, perhaps wikiloops or similar

Can you guys recommend a basic setup? I'm really starting from nothing in terms of experience. I think I need mics, a mixer, some sort of "box" to get into a computer, and software on the computer. Any pointers would be great.
 
Can you guys recommend a basic setup? I'm really starting from nothing in terms of experience. I think I need mics, a mixer, some sort of "box" to get into a computer, and software on the computer. Any pointers would be great.

If you want basic for online sharing and not-horrible-sounding scratch tracks, just grab an EAD10 and be done with it. No setup, no hassle/wires/mess, etc. Just focus on playing.

I'm not going to say they sound great, but they really do nothing to offend.
 
There is more to in ear montoring than mic'ing the drums. To hear the bass, guitars, keys etc. you need to mic' them as well. The singers will be mic'ed obviously, but you have to have a mix of the other musicians too. Plus overhead mic's on the drums will hear a lot of the room. Maybe a good thing since you need to hear the other instruments anyway. Then you have to mix the whole thing :) More drummers learning how to mix=hell yeah! Great solution for hearing loss, but requires some skill behind the board.
 
You didn't state how much you want to spend. That's the biggest factor. You can do it on the cheap, or you can spend to the moon. What's your $$$ limit?
 
Check out my responses on this thread, where I discuss using a Zoom H4N plus two external mics to record my drums. It's a very inexpensive and effective way to get reasonably high quality recordings and to play along to music tracks.
 
Budget is a big deal here, bou don't need much to get started.

If you want to go the interface/computer/DAW route you'll get more for your money, but there is a bit of a learning curve and slightly less covenient. The big plus is that you're learning about reording and mixing in the process. The Focusrite Scarlett stuff would be hard to beat for an interface in that regard. They sound great and they're cheap. I have an 18i20 and see no reason to upgrade until I decide to treat myself to top shelf stuff. Could have gotten a smaller unit to be honest, but the price difference wasn't much. I really only use a Shure Beta52A + overheads that I move around depending. I have a 57 I could put on the snare, but for practice I don' t bother. A good room, how you treat it and not just where you place the mics, but also the kit is a big big deal.

If you want to mess around with many channels, plug-ins etc.. you need a computer that can handle that, but for basic 3-4 mics and a few effects it's no problem as long as the computer isn't filled with all sorts of other crap.


Stand alone self contained stuff is easier, plug and play for the most part, but will cost more and be less flexible.
 
My band practices in my house without amps. The only thing making noise are the drums. Everyone goes direct into the interface, which has an internal mixer. Each person can have their own mix because the internal mixer allows four separate mixes.

I have a headphone amp that has six channels. Each person's mix goes to their own channel. These mixes come directly out the back of the interface into the headphone amp.

This is all without a DAW. I can change the fader settings, but not much else.

Adding a DAW gets more complicated at first, but once set up, I can record each person playing together and give each person a rendered copy of the rehearsal with their own instrument lowered in the mix.

This is how I practice our songs. I record our practice and then play back the songs without the drums. I can still hear the drums because the vocal mic picks it up, so I can still hear the count off.

The bassist has no problem with going direct, but the guitar sounds plucky. I have a small cheap Behringer guitar simulator direct box that helps, but a guitarist needs to accept the limitations.

The only drawback is headphones get hot, but it's still easier to take them off to speak than it is to mess with in ears.

It would likely be more problematic if the guitar and bass used amps.

It will still be a learning curve, even with a simple setup.
 
Mic the drum set, send the audio signals to an audio interface with USB or Thunderbolt, and with a headphone jack (most have one or two). This USB/TB connection is used to send an audio signal (e.g., a pre-recorded tune that you want to play to) within a DAW to the audio interface, then to the headphones. The USB/TB is what sends your drums to the DAW and records them to the hard drive.

^ this is broken into three parts:
• Microphones & cables & stands
• Audio interface with USB or Thunderbolt
• DAW & computer

Each has its own learning curve, but with patience and an attentive ear can be managed.

Recording%20Diagram.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies. I don't have a specific budget in mind, more like I'd pull the trigger if it's not too painful to do it right, and I won't otherwise. But having said that, if I could get going for $500 I'd probably do it right away.

The EAD10 is a compelling option due to simplicity. I watched Rob Brown's review on youtube and he seemed to like it, but everything was Apple/iTunes based, so I'd want to make sure it will work with non-Apple infrastructure.

Regarding the picture above (cbphoto post), is there an alternative where I get a physical mixer and simplify the computer side? I expect the DAW learning curve to be the steepest. Is single pre-mixed audio stream to/from the computer a reasonable approach (from would just be music for play along)?
 
The EAD10 is a compelling option due to simplicity. I watched Rob Brown's review on youtube and he seemed to like it, but everything was Apple/iTunes based, so I'd want to make sure it will work with non-Apple infrastructure.

Regarding the picture above (cbphoto post), is there an alternative where I get a physical mixer and simplify the computer side? I expect the DAW learning curve to be the steepest. Is single pre-mixed audio stream to/from the computer a reasonable approach (from would just be music for play along)?

EAD10 works well with android.

When recording from a simple mixer to a PC, you end up with 2-chan stereo. There are mixers that also provide interface functionality (and more) like the R16, which is what I own. The main issue is that Mixer/interface + mics + stands and cables can quickly escalate a $1000 entry budget.

I my case, I went with an R16, two AT2020's, an SM57 on snare, and an e602 for the BD. It was all a hair under $1K.
 
EAD10 works well with android.

When recording from a simple mixer to a PC, you end up with 2-chan stereo. There are mixers that also provide interface functionality (and more) like the R16, which is what I own. The main issue is that Mixer/interface + mics + stands and cables can quickly escalate a $1000 entry budget.

I my case, I went with an R16, two AT2020's, an SM57 on snare, and an e602 for the BD. It was all a hair under $1K.

Cool, so the R16 can dump straight to PC pre-mixed stereo, if you want, right? What software is needed on the PC side to simply capture the audio to file?
 
I use a Soundcraft EPM8 Analog Mixer, close mic all the drums and hi hat and have 2 overheads. Also run music from a laptop into the mixer. then I run an xlr to 1/8 headphone plug cable from the mix outputs into either a Zoom h1 recorder or the Zoom Q2n video recorder via the Line input in both. This totally bypasses the need for any kind of DAW for me. I just couldn't figure that bugger out.

Cost wise, mixer was in the $260 range and the recorders were around $100 apiece. From a mic stand point, as mentioned earlier, there are several options, from 1 mic all the way up to a mic on everything.

I'm real happy with how this sounds.
 
Cool, so the R16 can dump straight to PC pre-mixed stereo, if you want, right? What software is needed on the PC side to simply capture the audio to file?

The R16 is a bit of a swiss-army-knife. It is able to dump pre-mixed stereo audio to a PC, but I cannot imagine why someone would want to do that over pulling the individual tracks.

I use Garageband for scratch tracks and Logic for real projects. For Windows, it comes with a Cubase LE license, though I would recommend Reaper.

Results with my setup sound like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivdvJNl0WQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE86QowbPBI
 
Regarding the picture above (cbphoto post), is there an alternative where I get a physical mixer and simplify the computer side? I expect the DAW learning curve to be the steepest. Is single pre-mixed audio stream to/from the computer a reasonable approach (from would just be music for play along)?

I was gonna suggest the QSC TouchMix-16 but it's a bit pricey. Looks good though.
 
If your budget is $500...here's what I would buy.

1. Download Cakewalk (it's absolutely free).
2. TASCAM US1800 (used $200)
3. Pyle Pro Drum Mic Set (around $100, comes with Tom and snare mic rim clips)
4. Three boom mic stands ($45 for three; one on bass drum and two for the overheads)
5. Amazon Basics XLR cables 7x cables ($100)
6. Download Reaper ReaPlugs (absolutely free vst plug in like EQ, Compressor, Gate, Verb, etc)
7. Vic Firth Isolation Headphones ($45) - these headphones kick ass! I can listen to the mix at a low volume and there is very little bleed, almost zero. They're worth every penny.
8. You have some money left over for a 12 pack of beer and a pizza.

No kidding - that's a decent recording rig to start with! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I have a decent recording rig at home and put everything together so that I have high quality at the best value
I'm a better recording engineer than drummer at this point in my life.
 
If your budget is $500...here's what I would buy.

1. Download Cakewalk (it's absolutely free).
2. TASCAM US1800 (used $200)
3. Pyle Pro Drum Mic Set (around $100, comes with Tom and snare mic rim clips)
4. Three boom mic stands ($45 for three; one on bass drum and two for the overheads)
5. Amazon Basics XLR cables 7x cables ($100)
6. Download Reaper ReaPlugs (absolutely free vst plug in like EQ, Compressor, Gate, Verb, etc)
7. Vic Firth Isolation Headphones ($45) - these headphones kick ass! I can listen to the mix at a low volume and there is very little bleed, almost zero. They're worth every penny.
8. You have some money left over for a 12 pack of beer and a pizza.

No kidding - that's a decent recording rig to start with! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I have a decent recording rig at home and put everything together so that I have high quality at the best value
I'm a better recording engineer than drummer at this point in my life.

Thanks man. I already have some nice custom ear molds, so I can skip the headphones and get another round of pizza and beer. ;)
 
Resurrecting this thread... I went the EAD10 route, but have been having some trouble with it (see other thread), so I'm considering my options. I can see how the EAD10 could be awesome if it "just worked" out of the box. This is not turning out to be the case, and I can tell also that the lack of mix control could be limiting.

I've played with Cakewalk a bit since I made this thread, and I think I'd like to avoid having to use a DAW all the time for things like playing along to music or simply playing with proper hearing protection and a good mix. So, I think I'd like an interface with a mixing board in it so I can dial in the mix (including audio in) and play without my PC in the loop. I'd still like the option to hook to a DAW for real recording though, ideally with separate channels for as many mics as I have.

I keep coming back to Zoom R16, though it's a very old design. On top of that, I think I'd just need mics, stands and cables? I checked out the Pyle Pro mic set and the price is right, but the reviews were mixed. I'm open to not micing every drum separately if that turns out to be the best choice. Comments or suggestions totally welcome.
 
Back
Top