EZ Drummer 3 & the Glyn Johns mic technique

[Simon_101]

So…

As the title suggests, I’d like to utilise the *simple* 4 microphone method of recording drums on my next project.

The drums will be recorded over 4 x channels of audio into a Tascam DP24SD.

Is it possible to move the microphones around an EZDrummer kit?

Thanks

Topic

[John]

Hi,

the short answer would be: No.

To give you a longer answer, I would have to understand your question better; are you planning to record real drums with 4 mics and then replace them with EZdrummer 3?
You can always turn off microphones available in an EZX and only use a select few. E.g. ‘The Classic EZX’ has got one recording setup utilising the ‘4 mic setup’ which is what you are after.

What you can’t do in EZdrummer 3, regardless of EZX, is to move microphones around the studio where the kit(s) were recorded.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Simon_101]

Hi John,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

You’ve already answered another part of my overall query, which is EZ Drummer does appear to have a classic 4 mic setup, which is good to know.  I need to try and find a video of that setup in action.

I want to use EZD3’s sequencer to sequence the drums in the song using EZD3’s samples.  I only want 4 x (mono) tracks of drums, i.e. the 4 mic setup.

I then want to output the 4 x tracks of audio via Logic onto their own individual tracks to a Tascam DP-24SD.  I’ll print those tracks later on down the line.

I’m really looking for simplicity on this particular project!

Hope that is all doable and makes?

Cheers,

Simon

[John]

Well, sort of.
The Classic EZX which has one part of the library recorded as Classic 4Mic, is an expansion for the original EZdrummer (but of course also works with EZdrummer 3), i.e. it isn’t included in the EZdrummer 3 Core product. Please check it out, to see if it may fit what you are going for. The kits in that product are N&C, Craviotto and Yamaha.

The Main room in the EZdrummer 3 Core product offers a ‘Small Mic’ setup and the Tight Room a ‘Basic’ mic setup which may get you there as well. You can just Mute the extra Bottom Snare Mic and Kick Sub Mic, e.g. There are more drums to choose from in the EZdrummer 3 Core package.

The plug-in has got 16 Stereo Outputs which you can route to your host (in your case Logic). Hosts handle plug-in outputs differently and while it is a very simple thing to split e.g. Stereo 1-2 Out to Mono1 and Mono2 in e.g. Pro Tools, it’s a bit trickier in Logic but can absolutely be done. A Mono source is always a Mono source, regardless of whether it is routed to a Mono channel or panned in a Stereo Channel.
I attach a screen shot of my EZD3 Mixer in an example with the ‘Songwriter Basic Small Mic’ Preset.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Simon_101]

John,

That’s interesting, thank you.

Looking at your screen grab I think EZD3 with the “Songwriter Basic Small Mic” preset might get me to where I want to go.

Just for clarity – the Kick In (for e.g.) “Out 1/2” is a Mono signal sent to 2 x channels (1 & 2)?  If that is the case, separating

those channels in Logic usually means playing around with some bussing.  A bit faffy, but like you say, can be done.

I’ve only got 12 Mono channels available on the Tascam DP24SD, so having 4 x channels of drums, i.e. Kick In, Snare Top,

and a stereo pair of overheads helps conserve real-estate.

As an aside, I would have liked to avoid using Logic altogether, however, I came to understand that EZD won’t slave

to external MIDI song pointer data so I’m going to have to use it as a Logic plugin with Logic slaved to the Tascam

via a Philip Rees TS1 for sync.

• This post was modified 4 months ago by Simon_101.

[John]

Well, in the example with the Kit and Mixer setup above, you can always Bounce Stems from what you have on the Song Track, which would yield 2 “Stereo” Files, with the first one being the Kick hard panned to the Left and the Snar Top hard panned to the right. I.e., just split that file into two Mono files and you have your files without bussing the outputs.

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[John]

Imported into Logic:

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Simon_101]

Ah great, thank you.

Over the coming weekend I think I’ll purchase the above configuration and have a play around.

I want to reach a point where my drum-pattern writing/recording configuration is “hardwired”

into the system with minimal tweaking needed.

Thanks again

[Simon_101]

Update on the situation.

Been a while…

So… I finally got the 4 x way routing on this simple setup to work (SNR mono, Kick mono, OHs Stereo panned hard left and right).

EZD3 (currently trial version) loaded into Logic as a plugin with the following routing: Logic -> Focus Scarlett -> Tascam DP24SD (4 x faders controlling EZD3 drums).

For sync, Logic is slaved to a MIDI stripe on the Tascam, meaning all transport (including EZD3) is controlled by the Tascam.

The samples in EZD3 sound SUPERB.  Even with zero effects there’s an openness to them that makes you feel like you’re sitting in the studio listening to a real player.

But… The setup thus far is so clunky!

Pressing Stop on the Tascam, stops Logic, however, the playead on EZD3 keeps moving.  Pressing Stop in EZD3 (the spacebar doesn’t work in this configuration), halts the transport momentarily but it just kicks straight back in and keeps going.  The only way to stop EZD3 is send the Logic playhead back to the beginning.

This makes editing drum parts to the audio impossible and is very frustrating.  I really want to purchase EZD3 but I don’t want to introduce workarounds (particularly at the trial phase) just for basic editing.

Insofar as the way sync is handled my setups is slightly different to most, but it’s not unheard of, and everything in the chain is behaving, except EDZ3.

Any ideas/suggestions?  The issue feels like a bug…

• The post has been modified 2 times, last modified 2 weeks ago by Simon_101.

[Simon_101]

I just tried to post and made a couple of edits and these haven’t shown up and I can longer repost the original message!

[John]

Hi,

are you saying that even though Follow Host is Enabled in the EZdrummer 3 plug-in, it doesn’t stop playing when Logic’s transport stops?

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Simon_101]

John wrote:

Hi,

are you saying that even though Follow Host is Enabled in the EZdrummer 3 plug-in, it doesn’t stop playing when Logic’s transport stops?

BR,
John

Hi John,

Yes, exactly that, but I should add a caveat.  It only displays this behaviour when the stop command comes down-chain from the Tascam via the converted MIDI stripe.

If I sync Logic internally, EZD3 transport behaves as it should, i.e. it stop when Logic’s transport stops.

Cheers

• This post was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Simon_101.

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