Recording Drums & Desktop (audio) - Post Recording Editing

[Steve Humphries]

I am a drummer in a cover band and also post originals and covers on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@drum_n_aries3310).

I was a ProTools user and switched to Cakewalk because I'm cheap. I am still somewhat of a beginner at audio engineering. I have watched a lot of videos, and even taken courses online. I have been using  a DAW with my Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 to record my drums. I am using 8 microphones (1 BD, 1 Snare, 2 Overheads, 4 toms). When it comes to recording just my drums, it is easy. Where it has become more complex is when I am also recording against a track. 

I am stumped with something right now in Cakewalk and I am going to do my best to explain it. 

Here is how I was recording In Cakewalk. I created audio templates with my desired EQ settings, etc. I have eight input channels for my drum mics and one input loop channel for my desktop audio (Input=Focusrite USB ASIO Loop 1). I then have all 9 channels selected to record. When I play it back, I am able to adjust each drum input with my desired EQs, FX, etc. A few months ago, I was hearing that my cymbals were making a weird “pinging” sound. I did some research and the topic of “phasing” came up. So, I looked at all of my channels and all phasing at set at normal. So, I start changing some to inverted phase to see if anything changed. Not so much. 

On accident (cause I won’t forget), I had my loop track set as solo for playback. I sat there for a second and thought, how come I hear the drums and the desktop audio? I was thinking that channel was only recording desktop audio and not my drums. What I did notice about that channel being on solo is that the cymbals did not have that pinging sound. So, I played around and listened to all channels and got that weird sound again. 

Here is my struggle. I want to be able to edit my drum input EQs, FX, post-recording. I can’t do it if I am only using the loop channel as my final one to export. What i am saying is, to get the best sound, I have to only export the loop channel. The issue is I have to set all my EQs, FXs, before recording. Also, I noticed that the drum inputs are more quite on this channel.

There has got to be a way to record my drums and desktop audio and then post recording, edit my drum EQs, FXs. 

Please tell me there is someone out there who understands my dilemma and can provide solutions/guidance.

[Glenn Stanton]

so for my understanding - you use the loopback feature to play the tracking you are performing to?

my thinking is - you have one track per mic + one track for the desktop audio (presuming you want that recorded from whatever the source is). 8 mic sources (each mono) and  1 desktop audio (stereo). 9 tracks.

what is the desktop audio source?

if you don't need to directly monitor, then leave your drum source tracks with their echo off. if you need need to monitor both - then i'd use the live monitoring feature of the IO unit and blend the desktop and drum audio into your headphones directly and then record (echo off) the 9 tracks. again avoiding any latency in your monitoring.

as far as phase concerns there is "polarity" (the switch on each track which is 180° flip) and then there is "phase" which is a more complex topic and usually you'll need some timing adjustment plugins or specialized plugins (like Waves InPhase etc) to adjust (as each mic can pick up other drums and the distances are causing time arrival differences which could be causing the phase issues.

 

 

[Steve Humphries]

16 hours ago, Glenn Stanton said:

so for my understanding - you use the loopback feature to play the tracking you are performing to?

my thinking is - you have one track per mic + one track for the desktop audio (presuming you want that recorded from whatever the source is). 8 mic sources (each mono) and  1 desktop audio (stereo). 9 tracks.

what is the desktop audio source?

if you don't need to directly monitor, then leave your drum source tracks with their echo off. if you need need to monitor both - then i'd use the live monitoring feature of the IO unit and blend the desktop and drum audio into your headphones directly and then record (echo off) the 9 tracks. again avoiding any latency in your monitoring.

as far as phase concerns there is "polarity" (the switch on each track which is 180° flip) and then there is "phase" which is a more complex topic and usually you'll need some timing adjustment plugins or specialized plugins (like Waves InPhase etc) to adjust (as each mic can pick up other drums and the distances are causing time arrival differences which could be causing the phase issues.

 

 

Glenn, thank you for your reply. Yes. I am using the loopback feature to play the tracking. The audio desktop source is usually coming from Chrome (Drumeo, YouTube, Etc.). 

I sat down yesterday after posting this and played around. I did have all of my channels being monitored. Once I switched those off. I was able to record and then make audio adjustments after. Thanks for the explanation about polarity and phase.