Recording Drums....Constant Clipping.

[oulablank]

Hello,
Most of my recordings I have done at my house I either used Strike for the drums or I was recording a VERY SOFT drum part. Every time I recorded my band ( which can be pretty loud at times ) or some punk bands I happened or chose to be in the studio . So my problem and question is how do I keep my channels from clipping even when the gain is almost all the way down?? I never recorded a really loud drummer in my home, in a pretty small room before. Is this why I am constantly clipping? On my Neuman I needed to put on the pad and have the gain on the 002 at the equivalent 1 or 2. This seems a bit low.

[M.Brane]

That's not unusual at all when recording a loud drummer with a sensitive mic.

You may need to get some inline pads if you can't eliminate the clipping with the on-board ones. Also be careful you're not overloading the mics themselves. Diaphragm distortion is seldom good, and some mics can be damaged by too much SPL.

[Ryan Young]

I go through an analog mixing board before I go into my 003. More flexibility, and better mic pres. Just a thought. Good luck!

[oulablank]

Thanks! Also, at home my multi channel pre amp hit the crapper on me so I only have my 1 UA 6176 for tomorrows project. It's between buddies, nothing serious so aside from the 4 mic pres on the 002, stuck in a situation where I can only use 1 preamp should I use it for overhead, or snare. I already have my mind made up since the acoustics are piss poor where I'm at at the moment, but since I'm limited for the weekend I was wondering if anyone had a helpful hint or reason why I could be possibly using my only available hardware foolishly. 3 shure 57s 1 neuman u87 ai 1 mxl junk condenser. I was going to put the 6176 on the neuman and have that an overhead. Then the mxl as the other overhead going to the 002 pre, then a 57 on the kick, on the snare and one either in the middle or 2 toms or near floor tom.

[Scott Goldberg]

unless you can borrow a kick drum microphone instead of the 57, I think you have it wired. Put the U87 up and then duplicate the track when you are done with your passes and then flip the phase of it on one channel and then pan hard left and right. Group them and raise or lower them on the grouped faders. You could even go with one on kick and two on the snare, upper and lower. The U87 and the good preamp should pick up any fills that the toms are involved in and MANY projects have had great results that way. You get a strong kick and snare, and maybe even put the top snare mic near the HH too.

[DrFord]

Put the U87 up and then duplicate the track when you are done with your passes and then flip the phase of it on one channel and then pan hard left and right. Group them and raise or lower them on the grouped faders.

Scott R Secksie.

[Scott Goldberg]

I may not recover from that one! :D:D:D:D:D