Recording & Panning Electronic Drums

[Aaron ANV]

It sounds like the OP is need of a good drum VI. It's worth taking the time to understand the method Albee is suggesting. He posted this idea years ago and I've used that hybrid drum technique on many albums since (MIDI shells with a real ride and hats).

I use Superior Drummer 2 from my drum VI. My workflow for electric drums is this:
- MIDI out from the electric drum kit to the computer or interface.
- Record the MIDI onto a stereo Instrument Track in Pro Tools.
- Do all edits in the PT MIDI editor.
- Then I bounce everything down to audio tracks. Superior Drummer is great at this. It splits the performance into 18 audio tracks. You can even control the bleed between the virtual mics.
- Then I import the audio tracks into my session and from that point you're mixing audio just like you had recorded the drums in a studio. You can pan, EQ and compress individual drums however you like.