Friend trying to record a demo

[Bipslapper]

Hello TBers, a friend is trying to record his band for a demo: guitar, bass, drums and vocals. They are having some problems and asked me, in turn you, for help.

Here are some questions perhaps you could help with:
- How would you mic a full drumset with four mics? three dynamic and one condenser.
-What audio interface would be best to record a full drumset on a computer?
-Is it worth getting one with eight or more inputs or will two inputs be enough if mics are run through a mixer first? Or will that create too much latency in the system?
-Since they are all recording their parts separately what is the best way to monitor and record with low/zero latency?

Thanks for any / all help.

 

[Timi]

How would you mic a full drumset with four mics? three dynamic and one condenser.

Depends what sort of sound you want and what mics they are, but without knowing I'd probably default to using the condenser as a mono overhead, one dynamic on snare top and another on kick. You could use the 4th as a room mic perhaps?

-What audio interface would be best to record a full drumset on a computer?
-Is it worth getting one with eight or more inputs or will two inputs be enough if mics are run through a mixer first? Or will that create too much latency in the system?

Using a mixer into a 2 channel interface won't give you any extra latency, but obviously you will be committing to a sound. Entry level 8 channel interfaces aren't that expensive and the cheap ones tend to be ok these days. Having more outputs is also handy for separate headphone mixes or interfacing outboard processing.

Since they are all recording their parts separately what is the best way to monitor and record with low/zero latency?

Run the DAW at a low buffer (32 or 64 samples) or mute the channel while recording and use the interface control software to monitor the record channel.

 

[INTP]

Show 231 – Great drums with 4 mics
http://www.homerecordingshow.com/2014/01/20/show-231-great-drums-with-4-mics/

I have a Focusrite Scarlett, and you can monitor from the interface, which means zero latency for the live player. The latency for the delay between the playback and recorded track will never be zero, but can be offset in the DAW. This is how you adjust it in REAPER, as an example:
http://wiki.cockos.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_Compensate_for_Interface_Latency