Recording Midi Drums before I go to the studio.. HELP!

[ibewhoiam]

Hey everyone, I have been an engineer for quite some time but don't have the slightest idea about midi.

Currently the band I work with is going to the studio but their drummer is not going to be available during studio time... so, the solution is to record the drums midi (we have a digital drum set) prior to the studio so everything can be tweaked once there.

Is this the best solution? If not, then what is? If it is then how do i properly record the drums(snare, hi hats, etc) on separate tracks in sonar to eq and mix in the studio??

I am a newbie to midi so please be detailed in your response. We are shelling out a lot of money for studio time and the drums are most important so please let me know how to best handle the situation. Thanks in advance.

[CyberCat]

First, you need to have a MIDI soundcard or interface installed on your recording computer (the one you'll use to record the drums on.

Then you need to connect your drumset to the soundcard via MIDI cable(s) - one from MIDI out of the drum to MIDI in on the computer (and another from MIDI IN on the drum to MIDI OUT on the comp.)

Then fire up Sonar and go to -->Options-->MIDI Devices. On the Inputs side, choose your Soundcard's MIDI input. On the Outputs side, choose Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth (if you're gonna be using Sonar's drum sounds. If not then you might have to select your soundcard's MIDI especially if you're gonna be using sounds from the drum set - but I've never done it that way, so I'm not sure). Then click OK.

Then set the output of your MIDI track (-->Insert-->MIDI Track) to New Drum Map (the button should say "1-Microsoft..." If you place your mouse over it, it should say: "Output to 1-Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth")

Then arm your MIDI track for Record and give the drum set a try. You can then record when you are ready.

You may have to fiddle with the drum set settings to get the pieces to sound right (Hi-hats to sound like hi-hats in Sonar etc). I've only done this using a MIDI keyboard as the controller, so I don't know exactly how to get a drum set to fit.

But that's your basic set-up. Hope it helps you.

[jcicc]

Hi I agree with Cybercat, but I have a slight change. I use an external drum module for my sounds which I can trigger from a keyboard or from drum pads. When I set the MIDI output, I just select my drum module as the output device. Regarding setting up the different sounds on different tracks: First of all make sure you know what MIDI note is being triggered by each drum. For example, my kick is C1, snare D2 and hi hat F#3. When my drummer plays on the pads, he'll of course play a continuous stream of different notes for each of the drums. You can then edit that performance by using Edit > Interpolate > Filter and filter on the appropriate notes. Then it's just cut and paste to the individual tracks. There used to be a script that did this automatically, but I haven't seen it in the new Sonar. Hope this helps a bit