recording drums, what kind of channel-strip do you prefer ?

[Axelerator]

Hi out there !
Don´t know why i got struck by the DIY - virus , doing Techno and DrumBass-Stuff and having sold all of my analog Gear about 10 years
ago , switching to DAW "Hey ,no noise anymore !"- Btw. this was the last
time I released a record.. since then i have maybe produced over 500
´songs´ , from which none was made ready to be released and 470 of them got lost during system changes..the problem is that i spend all my time dipping into plug ins mostly looking for more "analog"sound which is
almost impossible using digital synths,drums,etc-somewhere i heared
about mixing in some Neve -stuff and started looking the web..
after getting complete shocked first i found this Page or the previous
space..Since then I DIYed a P2P gssl (never would try this again) ,a stereo
1176 and now there is a 33609 waiting to solder , BUT , I do not even have something to do for my Gear! ( is this insane ? or is it a wider spreaded phenomen?) So i have just bought a machinedrum , just for feeding my gear..and i started making musik again after 10 years!! :shock:
..what is bringing me back to topic again : what are your favourite combinations recording drums and drum instruments

more DIY !!
axel

 

[beatpoet]

I racked up a bunch of 325->312 conversions. Also 8x Fairchilds. NYD's 2-bottle preamp. Melcors, Dukanes, Varks and a couple of stragglers.

Anything accurate and reliable will benefit the music. Anything easy to use and reliable will not distract from the music itself.

If you like 'colored' sounds, use lots of iron and no-feedback tube stages.

 

[jensenmann]

I like to use very good microphones and spend time on the mikeplacement. If this is done properly then there´s a chance that good preamps can improve something. If the source, room, the mikes and their placement isn´t any good no preamp will help you to get good sound.
I´m saying this because there is no such "perfect" combination of gear. You can get the best results when you have shitty gear but get an icecream for the singer who then feels comfortable and gives her best. No icecream for her but tenthousands of $$$$$ spent on gear won´t give you the magic needed on that particular track.

 

[okgb]

Of course it helps [ in fact makes it easier & always sounds better ] if
you start with a good drummer who knows how to tune his kit , and
in a reasonable sized room .

For me usually more colored preamps for kik & sn , cleaner ones for
cymbals , either for toms , nice to have a room mic option [ if you have
the room ]
If you have the tracks , have a friend come in and put everything you've
got up cause you have to work with whatever you have [ mic wise ]
and placement is important [ a couple inches in a sn can make a big
difference depending on what you like .

 

[keefaz]

hum, look like the OP is producing Techno and DrumBass music styles, and use a machinedrum to produce drum tracks, so no mike placement here...
At least if I understand correctly :wink:
Now there are some hip hop tricks with mike placed in front of speaker playing the drum tracks, to add some air to drums sets...
I think to improve the machindrum tracks, taking the drums programmation style apart, I would use EQs and maybe compressor, or DI with transformers/tube DI preamp to give some analog sounds.

Axelerator, what is the drums machine that you use ?

 

[Axelerator]

Recently "only" a machindrum mk2 user wave. I love the internal drum generators much more than the sampler-option, if i need samples i have better samplers build in reaktor..
The machinedrum is able to produce every style of drums , from analog sounding jazzy to huge popping digital crackle. it took me about an hour
to understand maybe 85 % of it ! amazing! it is so much more fun to
screw in a snare than to look into 1000 snaresamples to find the right one ! (no cance..after hearing 20 i will take just the next one... ) and you can edit every parameter for every step very fast and smooth.
Made so many cool drum trx since i have got this machine.
now i´m looking for some "charakter"-tools to shape the signal before
recording.
Maybe also some stompbox-style dirtyNizers or single-ended tube DI
with overdrive-effect...suggestions are wellcome

greets
axel

 

[vertiges]

[quote author="Axelerator"]
Since then I DIYed a P2P gssl...[/quote]

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Wow... I'm impressed !!! :grin:

Do you have any pics ?

eD)))

 

[playboss]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjGlL006rPE

ironically, machinedrum looks boutique to me. Well , lets face it, it IS boutique.

 

[playboss]

valley people gear for example has CV style in& output ... too bad that giveaway topic ceased . Even if so, you can go with p2p, there are complete service manuals online, and gain element is matched transistor.

 

[Axelerator]

i will take some pics of my gssl later...this was for educational purposes
only maybe , since i have to debug it yet...horror.. :roll:

"boutique"??
What do you mean ? Yes the machinedrum is expensive and thats why i waited quite long before buying it.

BUT : Fun is Back ! Sound is great , imho worth every penny
On my first evening i thought " oh its just a drummachine.." in a matter of postbuying depression , after a few days i was thinking about buying one more...! ( and this is not completly out of mind ).

if you have a chance check it out !
ax

 

[abby normal]

[quote author="jensenmann"]I like to use very good microphones and spend time on the mikeplacement. If this is done properly then there´s a chance that good preamps can improve something. If the source, room, the mikes and their placement isn´t any good no preamp will help you to get good sound.[/quote]

I could not agree with you more.
Great placement, choice of mics and pres will eliminate half the struggle of getting a good mix in the end. It may take a little longer but as one of my mentors said to me once, "You can always add more spices to the sauce, but once they're in you can't take them out".

 

[abby normal]

[quote author="okgb"]
For me usually more colored preamps for kik & sn , cleaner ones for
cymbals , either for toms , nice to have a room mic option [ if you have
the room ][/quote]

Same here, but I sometimes will use a clean preamp on a snare first then re-amp it mic'ing it through a colored preamp depending on what I'm going for. General rule of thumb for me, clean preamps on percussive instruments or where sampling is critical. Colored preamps on bass oriented, breathy instruments, vocals. This works really well in the mix for me.