Recording Acoustic Drums

Hello,

I would like to record my acoustic drums on my iBook using Garageband (at least for starters). I see lots of posts from guitarists and so on using the iMic to record to their iBooks but I have yet to hear from anyone recording drums.

I'm wondering, what would be the best way to do this seeing as recording drums requires a few mics to do so? What kind of equipment am I looking at?

Looking forward to hearing from you all,

Jordan

If you have the cash you could always buy 3 or 4 mics, stands, and a small behringer mixer. With the mixer you have the option of experimenting with different EQ settings, mic combinations, and mic placements. Also everything sounds 100 percent better pre-amped.

Or you could always pull the punk rock ghetto favorite
" Shure SM58 hanging from the ceiling by its cord ".

also you would want to get a cheap interface... so after you get to the mixer you would want to use the direct out on the mixer and send that into a firewire interface into you mac.

I might have to opt for the ghetto punk route due to lack of funds. I will play around with recording a bit and see where that leads me. Thanks for the replies by the way. As well, that mixer you mentioned isn't priced to badly.

Jordan

If you want the freedom to be able to change the sound later then record the different drums on separate tracks one after the other and mix them together in the computer. Only problem with doing this is getting the feeling in it, will tend to sound a bit industrial which can also be nice in the right type of song.

ive recorded with one mic. the keys to being a cheap musician:

i hung it a few inches above my bass, between bass and snare, pointing away from snare.. picked up everything well.. play lightly on cymbals and hi hat, dont beat your toms to hard since it will be right in front of them. kick the bass hard!

http://www.pssl.com/

My favorite pro audio website. Often, they have deals for something along the lines of 6 mics for the price of 4 (Usually around $100). They also have a great selection of mixers, mics, mic stands, interfaces, etc. Check them out.

Hi!

Some music stores also give you the option of renting equipment, perfect for one-time recordings...
You can just borrow all the decent mic's and mixers you need, record the drums and then just record the rest of the instruments later...

We recorded our drums this way, it's a bit difficult to get the volumes correct for each mic, but the results are quite good and it only cost €40,- for 3 days...

Ask your local music-shops...

Ok im a video nut, and a friend of mine is taking recording classes at full sail onhis ibook.

First of all, why would you use firewire? Use the direct input on the laptop. Second, go with a cheapo mixer. Finally, DONT use dynamic mics. They sound god aweful when you mix it with garage band midi instruments. Condesnor mic is what youd want. Well, maybe a condensor as the main on each drum, and then a dynamic on the outer diameter, or opposite side.

Just get a simple RCA to 1/4" Y adaptor. I use that on my powermac, works GREAT. hah th mixer case matches the G5 lol.

Ive been trying to record my acoustic guitar with terrible luck. The sound in garage band is so flat, youll need to preamp/eq it yourself via mixer. Im using a dynamic mic that cost about 100$ bucks, and you can still hear atmosphere. I switched to 2 mics, which is neat because you can make your own stereo sound (i just use it for fullness)

A friend of mine is making a ton of money just making beats in garage band, and rapping to them. Sounds professional quality, its nothing more than a midi keyboard and a condensor mic. Course now he went out and bought pro tools but still.