Music Banter - View Single Post - Trying to record drums in synch with guitar

VEGANGELICA · 06-06-2009, 11:51 PM

Hi, PerFeCTioNThrUSileNCe (phew!),

Thanks for your reply.

Ahh...I feared ACID might be a problem since it was rather inexpensive. However, in this case I suspect the issue may simply be the delay caused by the sound traveling from my drums to the microphone 12 inches away from bass, snare, and tom. In contrast, when I'm playing the electric guitar or singing, I have the mike around 1-2 inches away from the amplifier and, well, me. Perhaps that 10 inches of difference is enough to cause the extra long time delay with the drum recordings. (If I were feeling motivated I would calculate the predicted time delay based on the speed of sound).

I have made a recording of a song including the drums (where I was trying to play ahead of the ACID metronome to compensate for the delay)...if you wish you go to my contact information you can get to my MySpace page and the first song that pops up is the one where I've tried to mesh the drums with the "first drafts" of the guitar and vocals.

Unfortunately, I don't think this will be very helpful in diagnosing my recording problem, PerFeCTioNThrUSileNCe, because the main observation you'll probably make is that the 3 tracks just don't line up well (I need to redo the guitar and vocals more carefully...and then try again with the drums). However, you are welcome to listen if you would like!

I suspect what I'm going to have to do is read more carefully what others have said about miking drum sets (Veridical Fiction appears to have an informative post about this).

Since you mention problems with ACID, I have found one problem with ACID that I can't seem to solve: when I am listening to the ACID program metronome through earphones while doing a recording (with all exterior speakers turned off), the sound of the metronome appears to bleed through electronically into the recording!! The PerFeCTioNist in me cringes, but I've accepted it for now.

Thanks again for your reply!

--Erica

06-06-2009, 11:51 PM	#7 (permalink)
VEGANGELICA Facilitator Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Where people kill 30 million pigs per year Posts: 2,014	Hi, PerFeCTioNThrUSileNCe (phew!), Thanks for your reply. Ahh...I feared ACID might be a problem since it was rather inexpensive. However, in this case I suspect the issue may simply be the delay caused by the sound traveling from my drums to the microphone 12 inches away from bass, snare, and tom. In contrast, when I'm playing the electric guitar or singing, I have the mike around 1-2 inches away from the amplifier and, well, me. Perhaps that 10 inches of difference is enough to cause the extra long time delay with the drum recordings. (If I were feeling motivated I would calculate the predicted time delay based on the speed of sound). I have made a recording of a song including the drums (where I was trying to play ahead of the ACID metronome to compensate for the delay)...if you wish you go to my contact information you can get to my MySpace page and the first song that pops up is the one where I've tried to mesh the drums with the "first drafts" of the guitar and vocals. Unfortunately, I don't think this will be very helpful in diagnosing my recording problem, PerFeCTioNThrUSileNCe, because the main observation you'll probably make is that the 3 tracks just don't line up well (I need to redo the guitar and vocals more carefully...and then try again with the drums). However, you are welcome to listen if you would like! I suspect what I'm going to have to do is read more carefully what others have said about miking drum sets (Veridical Fiction appears to have an informative post about this). Since you mention problems with ACID, I have found one problem with ACID that I can't seem to solve: when I am listening to the ACID program metronome through earphones while doing a recording (with all exterior speakers turned off), the sound of the metronome appears to bleed through electronically into the recording!! The PerFeCTioNist in me cringes, but I've accepted it for now. Thanks again for your reply! --Erica Last edited by VEGANGELICA; 06-07-2009 at 12:12 AM.