jammr Forum

Hi everyone, I am brand new to playing online or even having my instrument (drums) go into a computer. I am wondering how acoustic drums can be made part of this. I have a mixing board (16 channel) but do not yet have drum microphones. Can anyone with experience explain how this would work? Thanks and looking forward to jamming!

Following; I am in the same boat…

I've looked into it and it looks like I will need a set of drum mics and hook them into the mixer and then to the computer. Doesn't seem that difficult.

You'll want a multi-channel computer interface to capture the drums, at least 4 channels, so you can balance kick, snare, overhead pair (left and right).

You'll want to spend some time getting a good drum recording, with a good balance of overheads (cymbals and hats: important for time keeping obviously) that aren't too shrill or harsh, with a good stereo picture.

I would spend time tuning up, hitting record, and playing back, and making adjustments. Once it sounds balanced, you're good to go.

As for drum mic setups: I would recommend two condensers (either small diaphragm or large diaphragm) for overheads and using the Recorder Man setup, which is easy to get a good stereo picture of the kit and is easy to place with just using a piece of string or two drum sticks. Google “Recorder Man drum setup” and you'll find a ton of videos/pictures, etc.

You can buy drum mic kits nowadays from all major mic manufacturers and they'll do the trick.

If you have mics lying around, the venerable SM57 works well on snare top and kick in (more attack than boom, but that's what you need so the kick is audible to the bass player: remember you're basically mixing an album live here, there is no “amp in the room” or “drums in the room” everything is what's being captured by the mics).

Other mics that'll work fine are SM58 (you can unscrew the head basket and it essentially becomes an SM57) for snare or kick if you have those laying around for vocal duties.

Thanks for your reply, it will help me out tons. Regarding the mixer you mentioned, I currently have a Yamaha MG16XU, 16 channel mixer with a USB-c output. Am I correct in assuming that this should be able to work as the computer interface? I'm buying a 7 piece Shure drum mic kit. I like your idea of recording the drums to get the mix right. Thanks again.

dnacho
Thanks for your reply, it will help me out tons. Regarding the mixer you mentioned, I currently have a Yamaha MG16XU, 16 channel mixer with a USB-c output. Am I correct in assuming that this should be able to work as the computer interface? I'm buying a 7 piece Shure drum mic kit. I like your idea of recording the drums to get the mix right. Thanks again.

Yup, you can use it, but it's a 2-channel USB in and 2-channel USB out interface, so Jammr will only “hear” a two-channel stereo mix of your drums, but it should be fine, provided you do some practice recordings and get the mix balance right between channels on the mixer so that nothing is overwhelming in the mix (worst offenders are high hats, cymbals, if you're a hard hitter and don't have studio experience).

Thanks again! I`ve never played in a studio situation so it appears as though I`ve got some learning to do over the next while. I`ve jammed and played live with mic`d drums but never to a computer. The mics have been ordered and are on the way so I`ll let you know how it goes when I get everything hooked up. Your tips so far seem to be pretty straightforward.

dnacho
Thanks again! I`ve never played in a studio situation so it appears as though I`ve got some learning to do over the next while. I`ve jammed and played live with mic`d drums but never to a computer. The mics have been ordered and are on the way so I`ll let you know how it goes when I get everything hooked up. Your tips so far seem to be pretty straightforward.

No worries.

Couple of things:

- engage the high-pass filter (HPF 80Hz button) on all mics except kick and floor tom. There will be a lot of low-end rumble that's just going to eat up headroom on the mix and there is nothing down there that's really useful for other mics.

- I would start with just overheads and see how balanced of a player you are. It was a big lesson for me to learn, to really ease up on cymbals and hit the drums (especially the toms) consistently hard.

captaincancel
…it should be fine, provided you do some practice recordings and get the mix balance right between channels on the mixer so that nothing is overwhelming in the mix…

I'll second and third this! Nothig like being in the middle of a good jam and then all of a sudden it's SQUEEEEEEEEEE-REEEEEEEEE-KTSHHHHHHH… or whatever.

Definitely do yourself and everyone else a favor and set up the gear. It can get tedious depending on how much you're going to have to get adjusted, but SO worth it in that first jam! One thing I did (I had to set up five channels myself) was start a new jam and label it “AUDIO TEST ONLY” so that nobody would waste time coming in there only to hear some rando stuff I'm doing trying to get my gear set up and tested.

Julian you hit the spot! Its really important to get your setup out of the way before jamming since you will be negatively impacting the experience of all the other people