Drum recording on a budget

[preben]

A drummer friend of mine wants to set up a small 'drum overdub facility' mainly for his own use.

He is not interested in running a 'studio facility' per se but is only really aiming to record his own stuff as we as occassionally providing drum overdubs for people who haven't got the facility to record drums but still want some 'real drums' on their tracks - without having the hassle and spending the money going into a 'real' studio every time.

He has a very nice sounding (big) room and a pc pentium 3 running Cubase SX3 and needs to get a decent interface, some decent preamps and some mikes.

Due to financial restraints the entrance fee has to be kept as low as humanly possible whilst still yielding results that are reasonably useable. You'll notice this thread isn't located in the high end forum. He needs to get MIDI into the pc as well as the drums will be triggered as well for maximum flexibility after the fact. Use it or not - the MIDI info is there.

As he's only tracking drums against a stereo track (and possibly a cue click when things are REALLY kicking off) all that is needed is round about 12 ins, MIDI in (could easily be a seperate interface) and a headphone output for monitoring.

He will probably be going down the avenue of an oldish second hand pci interface (I've mentioned MOTU because they're the only ones I really know but please enlighten us). Generally the idea is to buy better gear second hand rather than second rate gear that's new.

I suppose the lowest entry point would be some sort of interface coupled with for instance a Mackie 12/2 desk but if possible he would like to go down the seperate preamp road as it leaves him more open to upgrading later on - plus due to monitoring constraints he won't be using the eq's on the desk.

As mentioned he also needs some mikes. He's got a pair of AKG C1000 (I know, I know, I kinda hate them as well but they're there), an AKG D112, a couple of 58's and a couple of 57's. Personally I MUCH prefer listening to a cheap dynamic mike (for instance a 57) over a cheap condenser mike BUT any suggestions are welcome.

His ideal scenario would be to accomplish the recording of something like this:

kick drum
snare top
oh's
toms 1/2/3
hihat
2 room mikes (and/or possibly 1 mono room mike)

MIDI in

Are there any sensible alternatives to the Mackie route that you guys could recommend? And what about the interface? (and please bare in mind that it has to be compatible with a slightly old pc running Cubase).

Thanks,
Preben

[opium89]

Presonus Firestudio or Focusrite Saffire Pro. Both have 8 preamps and are exapndable via an ADAT port. Both run about $700 ish. You'll be hard pressed to go cheaper than that if you need preamps. If not, check out the M-Audio 1814 for $500 ish. I beleive all three have MIDI input as well.

[preben]

How quick is this place... GREAT

Thanks opium89

Maybe I should point out that the pre's and converters could be seperate is there's anything gained by that - pricewise or quality wise.

[digibird]

Originally Posted by opium89

Presonus Firestudio or Focusrite Saffire Pro. Both have 8 preamps and are exapndable via an ADAT port. Both run about $700 ish. You'll be hard pressed to go cheaper than that if you need preamps. If not, check out the M-Audio 1814 for $500 ish. I beleive all three have MIDI input as well.

Add a Behringer ADA8000 for $239 for 8 more channels on your ADAT port. Useable pres, acceptable quality and good conversion for a stupidly low price.

Or, another option is to buy an RME Hammerfall 9636 (2 in/2out ADAT) for $399 (maybe $349) and 2 ADA8000s. Either option is serviceable on a budget.

[opium89]

Originally Posted by preben

How quick is this place... GREAT

Thanks opium89

Maybe I should point out that the pre's and converters could be seperate is there's anything gained by that - pricewise or quality wise.

The 1814 might be the way to go if you don't need the preamps but the Presonus would be the cheapest overall as it already has 8 preamps in it. It also comes with an excellent software bundle. The RME as suggested would also be an excellent option. Can't go wrong with any of them really. Read up and get what suits you best.