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Recording drums w/ Powerbook.

G

germ war

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 5, 2003
93
0
Saint Paul, MN
A friend of mine in St. Louis and I are going to start a "band by mail", and I need to figure out how I'm going to record my drums. I was thinking maybe I could just do a single audio track using Garageband, but I don't know the first thing about getting the set-up I need. Mainly, what do I need to connect a microphone to my Powerbook? And is there maybe a better way to do this? I don't have a lot of money, and if I can get away with just using Garageband and a cheap microphone, it would be ideal.

Thoughts?
 
Samson makes a USB condensor mic for about $80.
Don't know how it sounds, but maybe there's some reviews somewhere.
 
IIRC the powerbook has a rather high-quality mic built-in. however, you'd be better off just getting any old mic and suspending it above the drum kit to allow it to capture sounds from all of the drums equally
 
CanadaRAM said:
Go to the library and look up "Home Recording for Musicians". and any backissues of magazines Sound on Sound, Recording, Electronic Musician, etc. They often have articles on mic choice and placement for recording.
Click to expand...

Mic choice and placement isn't really the question. How do I connect a microphone to my Powerbook?
 
germ war said:
Mic choice and placement isn't really the question. How do I connect a microphone to my Powerbook?
Click to expand...
You'll need a mic preamp first. Search around these forums, I know I have recommended a few decent ones such as the Mackie Spike for example.

Garage Band will only record one track, so no stereo recording I'm afraid.
 
howesey said:
You'll need a mic preamp first. Search around these forums, I know I have recommended a few decent ones such as the Mackie Spike for example.

Garage Band will only record one track, so no stereo recording I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wasn't sure if I needed a preamp or not, that was something else I found on my own but wanted verified.

I only need one track for drums - just very basic recording to send back to my friend.
 
satans_banjo said:
you'd be better off just getting any old mic and suspending it above the drum kit to allow it to capture sounds from all of the drums equally
Click to expand...
got any samples of that technique?
 
M-Audio makes a lot of great, cheap interfaces for mics. To record the drums, I would recommend micing the bass drum, put 2 condenser mics over the set, one on each side, and that should be good, If you want, mic the hi-hat and snare too. This might not be the cheapest way to go, but you can always rent equipment :D
 
howesey said:
Garage Band will only record one track, so no stereo recording I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

Not true. GarageBand will record stereo. So it'll record both left and right channels of a stereo signal from a stereo mic (or mixing board).

Track -> New Track... gets you a dialog box, click Real Instruments and for Input select "Channel 1 & 2 (Stereo)". Presto, it'll record in stereo.
 
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