[Zodiac]

This is more for the musicians and audio geeks..

I've been playing guitar and bass for almost 2 years nonstop, I'm not the greatest. My guitar playing ability is at the point where everything grunge and punk is usually so easy I don't even have to look (not as big of an acheivement as it sounds if you know anything about guitar) and I'm starting to move on to harder stuff. I'm pretty good at fingerpicking and have decent speed, it's just like bouncing the tips of your fingers off the strings haha, I know a little theory and can figure out simple leads (like alice in chains' difficulty kinda leads) just by listening to the songs a couple times, but that's outside the point. I wanna start learning how to DRUM!


My dad has been an avid drummer for 25 years or so (he mostly plays neil peart's stuff but dabbles in metal, alt rock and folky stuff also) and over the years has built a super-expensive extreme drumset with 25+ pieces and some electronic drums thrown into the mix, so that isn't a problem. I've been watching him play my whole life so I know what good drumming sounds like and how a lot of the individual pieces of the set sound and work together, I can even play some basic beats but I don't really know where to start. My dad's a great resource but I'd like to figure out a lot of stuff on my own too, I don't really know where to start. Anyone have any advice?

Now for the real question..

We have an imac core duo upstairs with garageband (amazing app btw) and a toneport UX1, so I no longer am limited to recording total garbage with a practice amp and audacity.

But how would I go about recording the drums with only one microphone? Just above and kind of in the middle or what other methods could I use for different kinds of sounds. The electronic drums are good because I could just mic the amp but for most songs I would prefer the sound of a real drumset.

How do you usually go about recording demos in garageband, what's your setup? I'm not looking to do anything really fancy I just want to learn the basics so I can piece my songs together. I'm not exactly a musical genius who can write all the parts and then hear all the instruments together just in my head lol.. it would really add a new dimension to my songwriting. Show me more clearly what sounds good and what sounds like shit basically.

Sorry for the scrambled post there's benn something screwing with my thought process the last few days.

[World Leader Pretend]

Get a mic with a long lead so you can keep the iMac in a different room, because Garageband kicks the fans up pretty loud. Experiment a bit with the placement, maybe stick some sound panels or couches around to dampen the sound a bit if it is too harsh...

Basically I would just suggest that, and maybe play around with the effects a bit. My favorite on in GB is the MatrixReverb filter, where you can simulate different environments and manage the wet-dry mix and all that jazz. Make it sound like you are in a smoky joint in a downtown underground club, or a concert hall.

Just get a good mike and try to limit background noise, and leave the rest to post-editing. Just make sure to maintain that live sound as much as possible.

HTH

[Zodiac]

Hey thanks, the drums are downstairs so I'd be using a long lead anyway with the compy upstairs. You are right about the live sound my idea so far is to practice as much as possible and then do everything in as few takes as I can with the guitar and vocals done together in the same track. Cause if it takes me years to record and edit one track then obviously I can't perform well if I ever do get into a band situation right?

What are sound panels?

EDIT: Another question is it possible to record more than one track at a time? Like I want to direct-in the guitar through the toneport and mic the vocals on a seperate track at the same time with headphones on so the tracks don't bleed into eachother.

Oh yeah are there any drummers who know some really good sites on the subject?\ or have some tips? lol

thanks in advance