Oh jeez, I never even considered an over the shoulder type approach……I usually try to find a sweet spot directly over head where the Symbols aren't shrill or over powering the overall sound…….i've had some decent results I think are passable, just time consuming to get it right……..plus I've added some reverb to just the drum track that seems to soften it and seems to burn off in the over all mix.

I also for a couple old tracks made him just play the drums with no symbols or hi hat, then slapped headphones on him to play along with the track to add them in on a second track with different mic placement.

He absolutely hated it!!!!!!

My concern with over the shoulder recording would be the drool, or him suddenly becoming startled and biting the mic……….snicker







I KNOW…………you would think considering that whenever she is mad at me im sent to my jam dungeon anyways, she wouldn’t mind me making a few slight foundational adjustments to the house…………I spend enough time down there!

Hi cyberguy: this is where I come back into the thread. And this is where I think perhaps you need to spend some of your tax refund.

Your drummer hated being asked to record the different parts of the kit seperately? Hey, go figure. Perhaps you should record your guitar part a string at a time, just to show how easy it is?

A few years ago Jim Keltner reportedly recorded the drums on an entire album with just one mic - and I have absolutely no idea how, because a dynamic on each drum, two condensers for overheads and a small diaphragm mic on the hi-hat is the absolute minimum to achieve a decent sound in my extremely humble experience.

You are recording through one mic and then adding verb to the drum tracks? Good grief - is it the "subway" sound you are aiming for? I'd be fascinated to hear your results.

My suggestion is that you pick up one of the affordable mic sets specifically for drumkits. Shure's modestly priced PGDMK6 set, for example; or other makers do similar ones even more cheaply. And even more reasonably priced on Ebay. A good investment, and you will find that some of those mics can serve other duties too: for instance, some people like to use that kick drum mic for recording the bass guitar speaker cab.

Then you'll also need a small budget mixer with phantom power. Hopefully Mr Nutter and others will have suggestions for that - my own preference would be for Yamaha, but there are many options. Again, a little ten input mixer will have many other recording uses for you as well.

And hopefully others will have advice on EQ'ing the drums as well. Because that can be very tricky, and tiny adjustments can make a huge difference.

Recording drums can be a time consuming and tedious business, often taking as long to set up as everything else put together. But it is well worth the trouble because you just won't believe what an improvement a good drum sound can make to the finished recording. It is the foundation everything else is built upon, after all.

Anyhow. My penny's worth.

Good luck - C

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Keep in mind that the 864 will only use 1GB compatible CF cards (not a lot of room for multiple wav files!)

Try Reaper (free to try, low cost to buy) for a very good DAW!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Here is a site that focuses strictly on home recording and the guy that runs is seems pretty cool. http://forum.recordingreview.com/content/
Hope this helps.