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joshwest

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 27, 2005
1,143
5
Hey everyone im sure there is a few drummers on the forum. I myself, was wondering if everyone could post their setups. I was thinking of getting a m audio interface throwing a decent mic in the corner put a little bit of a gate on it and wa-lah to record in garage band.. Or if anyone had any pointers it would be appericiated
 

cschreppel

macrumors regular
Jul 17, 2006
248
0
Boston, MA
Hi!

Great to hear that some drummers are looking to record themselves! I've been playing and recording for 10+ years and on a budget you can definitely come up with something decent.

If you're looking to record for your own purposes (recording practices, etc.), two mics with a 2-channel interface is plenty.

You'll need to get yourself 2 large-diaphragm condenser mics and place them 3-6 ft in front of the kit and about waist high (there's other opinions on this though).

Having a stereo recording is much better than just having a mono room mic. I also wouldn't recommend gating the drums...don't know why you'd need to unless you're looking for an effect when mixing.

If you can afford to spend a bit more on an interface/mics, here's what I would recommend:

4 channel (4 mic preamps) M-Audio interface (don't know models)
2 SM57's (one for kick, one for snare...if you can get a Beta52 for kick, do it)
2 Large Diaphragm condensers: MXL makes inexpensive mics that will work for your budget

That would be a nice starting setup, I would think.

Here's my rig...it's a bit bigger:

Dual 1.42 GHz G4 + Dell 17" Display
Pro Tools LE
Digi 002 Console (18 ins, 18 outs)
M-Audio BX5 Monitors

4 SM57's (for snare and three toms, guitars, etc.)
1 Beta 52 (for kick)
2 Shure KSM 27s (for overheads, acoustic guitars, etc.)
1 Røde K2 Tube Condenser (for room mic, vocals, etc.)

M-Audio Octane 8-Channel ADAT Preamp - I run this via an optical cable into my Digi002...I usually run the drums into this when recording as it's a bit cleaner than the 002's 4 preamps.
 
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