[LAU] A short story: from zero to recording the drums in a budget

[Carlo Ascani]

2014-07-21 21:52 GMT+02:00 Robin Gareus <robin at gareus.org>:
>
> Thanks for sharing. That's good info.

I think that the most interesting part here is the computer.
It is a P4 with 512MB of RAM and it does a great job as a digital recorder.
And it is extremely silent.

>
> What software and plugins did you use to record and mix?
>

I recorded using Ardour 3.
I mixed on my laptop, sharing the whole session using git.
The plugins I used are eq and compressors from calf and gverb.
In details:
the kick has eq and comp
the snare has comp
the toms have eq
the overheads have nothing
the whole kit has gverb

Under Ardour 3, there is a plain archlinux installation.
Stock kernel, and a very inexpensive window manager.
On the mixing machine, which is a Thinkpad X201,
I have exactly the same setup.

I am not a big fan of "multimedia distros", just because
I am using the same software setup for recording, mixing and do my daily job
for almost 10 years now, (just changing the hardware).

>> So guys, what do you think?
>
> Sounds very good to me. I've heard pro studios do worse with much more
> expensive equipment. I prefer the dry raw sound [2] here for the demo.
> Though things will be different in mix with other instruments.
>
>> If I would improve the quality of my recordings, where should I spend
>> more money?
>
> I don't think you have to. Tweaking mic positions and adjusting the mix
> will have greater impact in this stage.
>
> If you really really want to waste some cash: one can never have good
> enough Mics and analog preamps :) but you'll have to go up an order of
> magnitude on the price-list for it to make a significant difference - if
> any.
>
> You're fine on the digital side. the Echo Layla has only 20 bits but
> that's plenty here. Don't worry about this.
>
> The weakest part of your setup are probably the KRK Rokit 5 monitors.
> I've heard those in comparison and was not convinced for
> mixing/mastering in general, but I cannot judge them for drum mixing on
> a budget.
>
> Note however, that this directly affects the processing
> (compression/eq/etc) that you'll be doing and it may or may not be
> possible to 'get used' to these monitors and learn how to properly tweak
> details of the mix with them.
>

Thank you for the tips guys!

A bit OT:
I would like to emphasize how good is the Revox M3500, the mic I used
on the snare.
I find it far better than the SM57, which is a mic you can compare it to.


-- 
Carlo Ascani | carlorat.me
skype: carloratm
irc: carloratm at freenode