Those are purrrty. Is your dad looking for endorsees?
[...] When I'm just jamming on the drums I'm quite aware of what I've played before - and what I think are cliche ideas - and so I try to invite unusual things into my playing. I love it if I play something that doesn't sound like me.
cheers
Gavin
Hi Fox622003
would you recommend getting a really good sound card (one with 8+ inputs) and connecting the mics directly to the inputs? or getting a say, decent sound card and a good mixer, regulate from there, and have all the mics in just one track in the PC?
Personally I'd go with a mixer - but there's no need to have all the mics go down to one track in the computer. Of course it depends on the mixer and the card too. If you can find a mixer that has multiple outputs (some of the small Mackie's have 8) you can record on 8 discreet channels onto your computer and give yourself a lot more flexibility in mixing the drums inside the computer.
To jump in on it a bit more; as Gavin says, its what you want to accomplish. You could make a mix of the drums on a mixer and record the stereo feed. You could also get a soundcard with mic inputs (I can recommend mackie and presonus. They both sound very nice with a not so high pricetag. Im not sure how focusrite sounds) which gives the advantage of having every piece on a separated track. You could do that with a mixer too (if it has direct outs or enough busses to suite your needs) but then you need two pieces of equipment.
The last option is using one of the newer generation mixers with a computer option (usually a firewire/usb expansion board fitted inside the mixer). If you want a full digital desk (which means that you can save presets, have flying faders) then the Tascam DM24 is a good choice aswel as Yamaha (they have more models but they cost more).
Soundwise (and a bit cheaper but not fully digital) the Mackie Onyx series is very good. You can have a 12 or 16 channel mixer with firewire option. That gives you a normal analog desk with everything on it (including very good preamps! the Onyx preamps really sound sweeeeet) but every channel can be recorded over firewire.
Allen & Heath has also a new range of mixers which do the same as the Mackie. They cost a bit more and I haven't heard them yet so I cannot comment on the quality of the pre's.
To be honest, a mackie desk with firewire option gives the best of both worlds and makes it a flexible setup (because mixers are always handy to have and if you can record them easy with no extra soundcard, then that seems a good feature to me).
Soundquality and buildquality are good (preamps are top!), I think their drivers are very reliable now they are out for a few years and the prices are not a lot if you concider the other options and functionality.
Hi Gavin,
I've (and so has my drum teacher) been trying to work out two drum fills in the song "Fear of a blank planet", The one at 4:30 and the one at 5:01. Could you you possibly explain them, maybe with drum notation?
Thanks
Thanks a lot, that was very useful. Did you happen to check the one I am thinking of buying after Gavin mentioned Mackie? Here.
It seems like a decent option, it allows for USB recording, and also for just outputs through a sound card (AND it seems nice for up to medium live situations), although I'm not sure if you've had any experience with it, I still think you'll probably be able to tell me if it's a good idea to get it or not by the specifications. I need to get a decent soundcard anyway, since I invested some in a good PC, but left the onboard soundcard to expand it later.
Fox.
But aside from USB recording, doesn't each channel still have an output, which can be connected to a separate input on a soundcard? So, to record a miked a drumkit it would still allow for separate channels on the computer if not recorded via USB, right?This is not a problem if you record stuff one by one or don't mind having everything on just a stereo track (which means you have to mix in realtime at this desk). If you want more control over the mix (lets say a drumkit miked up with 6 mics) then this is not possible after recording with this mixer.