Drum track recording

[Matt1995]

Hi all,
I am new to the forum and the world of recording music. I had just recently bought a tascam dp03sd to record my tunes on. I’ve been figuring it out pretty quick, even made a test track with guitar, bass and drums. I have a sm57 mic that I use to mic the bass, guitar and drums all separately, one at a time. I have some ideas for songs but there’s one thing I know I’m going to run into which is picking up where I left off on a drum track if I stop or if I make a mistake. Basically I know I’m not going to get a whole drum track down in one take and may have to stop, rewind, play it back and go from where I left off, if that makes sense to you. For my test track I recorded a simple bass track, then guitar, then played it back and added drums. Sounded great, but that was easy and wasn’t any major change ups and there was a few hiccups here and there. SO, What is the trick to recording a nice drum track? Does it have to get done in one take or can it be split up into sections?
Thanks all for the help
-Matt

 

[-mjk-]

Now you know why most people use either a hardware or software drum machine. The main advantage of a software system is the choice of sounds and the advanced editing capability. When done, one can import the audio file into the hardware recorder, or input MIDI/audio into a DAW.

As for your last question, the answer is "Whatever it takes to get it right."

 

[shredd]

Ah yes, grahsshoppa...you must seek the ways of Tascam's vast editing capabilities, and learn to employ punch-in/punch out.
The "stickies" you must read!

 

[Mark Richards]

...picking up where I left off on a drum track if I stop or if I make a mistake...What is the trick to recording a nice drum track? Does it have to get done in one take or can it be split up into sections?

1. Record a guide track (e.g. metronome+guitar or vocal).

2. Record the drum track up to stop point (error, etc.)

3. Use Autopunch, or purchase a TASCAM footswitch and use Punch-In/Out, (see Owner Manual) to continue recording on same drum track. Alternate: record punches on different tracks starting new track at the point previous track stops, edit each track (see OM) to remove error, then assure timing aligns (minutes/seconds/frame -see OM; or bar/beat) and then Bounce (see OM) the edited drum tracks to a single contiguous drum track.

4. Clear drum track segments (see OM) for other overdubs (vocals, bass, etc.)