PreSonus Firepod

[braeden]

G'day,
I have been thinking about buying the PreSonus Firepod for a couple of days now, I'm pretty much convinced that it's probably the solution for my problems.

Has anyone got any pictures of their setup (inc. Firepod)

Cheers

[thesilentdrummer]

I've been eying the firepod for 4 months now but its still very expensive (even after the $100 price drop). I too am interested in see some setups, but I am pretty sure about how I'm gonna use it, when I'm ready to fork over $400.

What are you're problems? too few inputs? Latency?

[braeden]

Well, I was just wondering whether you'd be able to plug the Pod XT into this system. In the diagram I am pretty sure they're using a Pod XT there, but how exactly would I set it up?

Money isn't really a problem for me at the moment, I've managed to get $1200 (AUD) or so, it's retailed at $1299 but it's down to $1000 store price.

So this would be a good system for recording drums yeah?
What microphones + cables do you suggest?

Thanks matey.

[thesilentdrummer]

A PODXT would work fine with that. Its just a standard 1/4 instrument cable into the front of the firepod. Those inputs can take either XLR (mic) or TRS Balanced/unbalanced (1/4").

Yes, its great for recording drums. As far as mics, you can't go wrong with a Shure SM57 on the snare. ON the Kick, check out the Shure Beta 52 or the AKG D112. I personally and very happy with My Audix D6, but there really is no wrong way to go. The one thing I have to say about the D6 is that it is small enough and shaped well enough for me to position it anywhere inside my kick (Hole in resonant head). I have heard others liked this feature about the D6, but I haven't really used the other mics I suggested, so keep an open mind. For Overheads, a pair of condensers of any kind work pretty well. If you can afford higer end condensers, that would be great, but a Pair of MXL 993's should work well. Toms don't always need to be miced, but if you do, some dynamic cardioid mic on each should work fine. I forget what Brandon likes to use on his toms (Sennheiser MD421?? I don't know, can't find that article), but generally something that is unidirectional that will not bleed too much.

[braeden]

Heh, thanks again for the reply.
Yeah, I wasn't too sure about how exactly the inputs worked, I knew they accepted XLR but not the ordinary instrument cable.

Well yeah, I think the microphones are going to be the most expensive items on my list considering I'm going to have to buy around 7 or so.

2 x Overhead Microphones
1 x Bass Drum Microphone
3 x Tom Microphone
1 x Snare Microphone

Would you suggest buying the Drum Microphone Packages?
I'd rather buy them all separately but I'm not looking at an overly professional setup here, it will probably come down to the separate microphones - but just wondering what your opinion is on them anyway.

[thesilentdrummer]

Well, if you can fork over a large amount of money ($400 USD, so the same cost as the firepod) for a mic kit like this, then I would do that. Don't waste money on a cheap mic kit. A mic kit is good for buying multiple mics at one time because, even though they are expensive, you can save some money over buying individual mics. If you can't spend a large sum of money at one time, then I would buy individual mics in this order:
Overheads (2)
Bass Drum Mic
Snare Mic
tom mic(s)

Overheads are a good place to start because you can get a good drum sound with that. If you want a more modern sound (two overheads will give you something of a Beatles drum sound), you probably want to have a kick mic and a snare mic and build up from there.

[benniferj]

I've got a firepod and its nothing but awesome. I plan to get a second one to stack for a total of 16inputs for recording full bands live for rough demos.

As far as order of drum mics, id put the snare above the bass drum. You can deal with a budget crappy kick sound but a snare sound is so important, its one of the most customizable and signature sounds on the whole kit.

AKG has some pretty good deals on their mic packs - im about to purchase the one with 1xD112 kick, 4xc418 tom/snare and 2x c1000 overheads. And get an SM57 to use as my snare mic as I play a 4 tom setup so ill need all the c418s for toms.

But yeh, get a firepod, just a great all in one piece of kit to get started and use as the backbone of the studio - 8 preamped inputs (and they are pretty good preamps too - maybe get a 2 channel tube preamp for di'ing bass and guitars in addition maybe if youre getting more serious. Certainly good enough for a brilliant drum sound with good mics. Midi interface. Loads of outputs. Rack mountable. Amazing hardware support built into every mac with firewire and im sure its just as good on pc too once you install the latest drivers.

I love it. Get one!

[braeden]

Alright awesome

Just another question, If I was to buy a Compressor/Noise Gate unit (or both), How exactly would I plug these in and set them up? and what do the controls mean exactly?

I don't know much on the hardware side of things, sorry

[thesilentdrummer]

I think compressors go out with XLR(?), so you would use a regular mic cable and plug it into your inputs on the firepod. Each input on the compressor should have an individual output from the compressor, so if you have multiple inputs, just make sure you send the same number out to the firepod.

[brandondrury]

Has anyone got any pictures of their setup (inc. Firepod)

Well, a picture (like from a camera) isn't going to do much good. My cables often look like the Indiana Jones and Raiders of The Lost Ark snake pit AFTER I organize them.

Yeah, I wasn't too sure about how exactly the inputs worked, I knew they accepted XLR but not the ordinary instrument cable.

Yup, both XLR and 1/4" on all 8 channels if I remember correctly.

I've been eying the firepod for 4 months now but its still very expensive

Dude, we live in a different world. When I started, a Delta 1010 was $600 and was considered budget. You still needed to buy preamps, so I picked up a Mackie 1604 for $700 (at dealer cost....had a friend with connections). Anyway, not you can essentially replace this $1300 setup with a rig for $400 and you get the portability of Firewire. Times have gotten WAY better!

This is one expensive hobby.

I forget what Brandon likes to use on his toms

I don't record drums much because if the band isn't serious enough to record drums in a real room (mine are inadequate for drums) than I'm not interested in recording them. With that said, 421s are nice on toms but not cheap. Back when I was doings lots and lots of drum recording (pretty much every weekend), I loved the Oktava MK012s on toms. If I was just starting out, I'd probably use 57s. You really don't have to match the mics on the toms (every tom sounds different anyway), so I'd probably get a variety of dynamics and cheap condensers when getting started.

Drum Microphone Packages: Why I Don't Like Them

Brandon