I’m recording my band Sunday.

[la szum]

Oh man! Hosting involves a lot of work. Be it a dinner party or a band recording.

Hope you had some fun, and got some savable tracks. Recording is such an
inherently bi-polar act.

Fresh ears in the morning!

 

[la szum]

I didn't know you owned a Superdrive. You've not mentioned it here??

I've been thinking about getting another Superdrive. They are so off of
people's radars, and cheap as a result. One of the first boutique amps.

I've owned them all from the 18 to the 80. Felt like the 30 and 45 were kind of
in the sweet spot for the amp.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

This is the best way to do it IMO, drum tracking with the band live, retrack guitars later without added distraction

 

[EOengineer]

I didn't know you owned a Superdrive. You've not mentioned it here??

I've been thinking about getting another Superdrive. They are so off of
people's radars, and cheap as a result. One of the first boutique amps.

I've owned them all from the 18 to the 80. Felt like the 30 and 45 were kind of
in the sweet spot for the amp.

I grabbed this one a few years back. Got it a cap job and added a tiered bright switch on the back of the amp to progressively open up the top end.

Its nice with my vintage spec tele. This was the wrong application where I needed something more like a Dual Rectifier.

This is the best way to do it IMO, drum tracking with the band live, retrack guitars later without added distraction

Totally. This is how I always end up doing it. We have fx changes and stuff where it’s just much easier to overdub and hit all the changes cleanly.

 

[EOengineer]

Work was crazier than expected this week so I’ve been running behind. Life happens.

Tonight I got a solid drum take selected and very lightly cleanup up on one song. I haven’t settled on drum sounds yet and primarily selected for a nice vibey take.

Next stage will be selecting guitar takes and cleaning some of those up this weekend.

I’ll add tracks here as I work, maybe even multitracks eventually if some of you like having real world material to practice on. What are you all using to share audio files here?

 

[bikescene]

Are you using the SD3 core library or one of the others?

I like how my kit responds to the core library (also using a an eDrumIn myself) when I fool around. When I want to swap to other libraries, I sometimes to tweak levels and velocity curves to get a similar response.

Of course, having a competent drummer helps. I’m curious to see how you approach drums with an eKit for your band’s vision of the sound.

 

[joezlo]

All cool too hear!

I'm a big fan of the Mesa Cab clone for DI'ing Heads.

Though, I've never used one on a 100 Watt, it worked really well with 50's & LBX's.

This is a EVH LBX ii through a mesa cab clone:


Can't wait to hear your stuff!

 

[EOengineer]

Are you using the SD3 core library or one of the others?

I like how my kit responds to the core library (also using a an eDrumIn myself) when I fool around. When I want to swap to other libraries, I sometimes to tweak levels and velocity curves to get a similar response.

Of course, having a competent drummer helps. I’m curious to see how you approach drums with an eKit for your band’s vision of the sound.

The kit as configured for rehearsal almost always uses the Death library from the Death & Darkness SDX. Despite the name, the kits in that library are very well suited to all kinds of pop and rock material.

I love the core library but have consistently had issues where it feels like whoever they used to create the samples was made of glass or something because the drums always sound like they are barely being hit to me unless you fortify with more samples than I prefer to use.

Once I get the audio files together I’ll throw the SD3 preset in there.

 

[bikescene]

The kit as configured for rehearsal almost always uses the Death library from the Death & Darkness SDX. Despite the name, the kits in that library are very well suited to all kinds of pop and rock material.

I love the core library but have consistently had issues where it feels like whoever they used to create the samples was made of glass or something because the drums always sound like they are barely being hit to me unless you fortify with more samples than I prefer to use.

Once I get the audio files together I’ll throw the SD3 preset in there.

I haven’t gotten into the newest SDXs, but agree that the metal libraries are well recorded drums that can fit into many genres.

I prefer expansions for most of my SD needs, but I need to get the snare and hi hat velocities up past 110 consistently in many of the libraries to get the sound I want. The way I have my kit set up most of my hits are in the 90-100 range when I am in my pop rock mode. I’ve always wondered how others approached eKits and SD3.

I’ve left my amps on in the 2 hour range with a reactive load with no problems. My 6505 and Recto Multi-Watt had the master fairly low (~9:00-10:00) so no problems there. I’ve also done it with a 50W Plexi circuit pretty much cranked, which probably produces much more heat. The Suhr RL doesn’t get terribly warm, so I haven’t even thought about it. Never pushed to beyond 3 hours though.

I look forward to hearing the music once done. I love the look of cables interconnected in a working environment.

 

[EOengineer]

Well, I finally got to sit down and run through one of the tunes. There are some little performance things here and there but this is a very quick and dirty mix of the instruments.

Drums and bass are single takes and the guitars are each 2 full separate takes panned out (4 tracks total) basically as doubles. There is zero processing on the guitars and this probably sounds like ass. Enjoy!

A lot of our stuff is carried by the vocals, hoping to get those recorded soon.

 

[TSJMajesty]

That sounds great! I'd come check you out. Got any gigs lined up?

 

[EOengineer]

That sounds great! I'd come check you out. Got any gigs lined up?

We’re working on it. Original live music is so hard to break through as a new band. We need to push harder into the DC metro but dint have the pull yet.

 

[la szum]

Tight!

Octaves are never wrong.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

digging it! Had no idea what to expect but it reminds me of some of the more “grown up” pop punk Jerry Finn would record (in a good way).

Tones and performances are sounding solid. Personal preference and all that but I think I’d like to hear a higher tuned snare on that song though

 

[EOengineer]

digging it! Had no idea what to expect but it reminds me of some of the more “grown up” pop punk Jerry Finn would record in a good way.

I really appreciate that feedback. We have a couple that lean pop-punk and this one’s probably the most pointed in that direction.

Tones and performances are sounding solid. Personal preference and all that but I think I’d like to hear a higher tuned snare on that song though

I totally agree. Our drummer’s live kit uses an amazing sounding 13 inch DW maple snare and I really want to sit down one day and try to match it is SD3.

The Death & Darkness SDX is almost perfect but lacks a couple good wood snares. A few maple and birch options would go a long way. It seems to be primarily metal snares, if not totally.

I’m hoping to sneak in something from either the core library or I also have the Kicks & Snares EZX if I can find something that naturally blends. I find wholesale replacing the snare from another library to generally sound pretty unnatural.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I really appreciate that feedback. We have a couple that lean pop-punk and this one’s probably the most pointed in that direction.


I totally agree. Our drummer’s live kit uses an amazing sounding 13 inch DW maple snare and I really want to sit down one day and try to match it is SD3.

The Death & Darkness SDX is almost perfect but lacks a couple good wood snares. A few maple and birch options would go a long way. It seems to be primarily metal snares, if not totally.

I’m hoping to sneak in something from either the core library or I also have the Kicks & Snares EZX if I can find something that naturally blends. I find wholesale replacing the snare from another library to generally sound pretty unnatural.

Totally agree about chopping and changing drum samples. When I audition kits I usually swap the whole kit so what you hear is the whole kit as they recorded it. All the room mics and internal levels (and even micing) sound way more cohesive and purposeful. It can be quite hard to find out which additional snares were recorded with which kit, but sometimes you can solo some room mics and it can be easier to tell. Sometimes when mixing and matching one of the drums will sound totally different in the rooms, like they change the eq a bit or adjust levels/positions of mics accordingly.

I LOVE that Mark Lewis library and it has a pretty nice range of tunings. Hopefully you can toggle through a few in there and find one that sings with the rest of the track. The Tue Madsen library sometimes works although it’s definitely more hit and miss. I can’t stand the stock sd3 library - as you said, the “hard” hits are way too soft, the room is stupidly big and long in the decay, the tunings are weird and the micing is goofy. You can brute force them into something but it’s never as good as just getting the sounds right from the off.

I don’t like it for the main “drums” but for layering in some additional samples, the Steven slate libraries have some good cranked tunings with decent room mics etc. I think (as with IR’s) you’re better off trying to find the right source and not supplementing that until the source is right.

 

[Orvillain]

Well, I finally got to sit down and run through one of the tunes. There are some little performance things here and there but this is a very quick and dirty mix of the instruments.

Drums and bass are single takes and the guitars are each 2 full separate takes panned out (4 tracks total) basically as doubles. There is zero processing on the guitars and this probably sounds like ass. Enjoy!

A lot of our stuff is carried by the vocals, hoping to get those recorded soon.

I dig!