Just brainstorming… I ve got a gig next friday with drummer and percussionist. Its small club so only octa will be PA’ed.
What are your thoughts?
I was thinking - good kick on one track and some funk chops on the others. I would like to use only drum sounds to make it more interesting.
Big question - should I atempt to sample them live or just let them follow my lead. From your experience - would one dynamic mic and no preamp be enough for this?
cheers
Just a mic, will not be enough…
If you want to sample them live I’d mic the kit properly, send to a sub mixer and then into the OT. Feed the single overhead from the percussionist into the same desk.
You may struggle with a single overhead, I can’t see how it’ll work?
Great idea though!
I m worried about feedback from overhead- I will use dinamic mic in “dick” position for main drums. and percussion - still a question.
Now I m thinking about most creative way to set up the octa… - to change the way the drummers will play…not only through weird delays.
I’ve done some interesting stuff with sampling our drummer. I kept it quite stripped down because it can get very hectic quickly.
You might want to start with just a 57 on the snare of the kit, one mic on a piece of the other percussionist’s setup. Set up a couple of RAM rec/play, trig trig pitch trig etc. This way the drummers are being sampled a bit but also have room for complex accompanyment.
Also done some cool stuff with contact mics. Super cheap and easy. Gotta leave some tracks for yourself though! 
Let us know what you end up doing and how it goes! Love this shit
Sorry, this kind of thing gets me excited.
Maybe it’s a cheap trick, but resampling and using some pitch, rate, and retrig plocks is easy to jam with and get interesting effects. Don’t forget about lfo’s!
I also like using the comb filter on live percussion. Use the feedback and pitch to get some basic melodies or drones. Lfo’s!
Now I want to go make some music.
thanks guys for all suggestions. the gig is on friday, so have some time to prepare myself, although it’s hard to practice this kind of setup.
…I’ll let you know how it went. LFO on random!!! 
I have been playing with live drums a lot and tried different things
So far the best is to get separate mics in different inputs.
I think in your case you can use for example
-the kick input A
-the snare input B
-the hi hat input C
-percussions input D
Then use Thru machines for each separate source, also neighbor machine for each if possible that way you can have more control over each sound because 2 effects are not enough ( EQ and/or Compressor are usually necessary)
keep a track free for resampling the master for reverse/repitch effects
Interesting results and lot of fun with Distortion, Lo Fi and filter on the kick . for the snare, filters or parametric EQ and Delay or reverb, Delays on the hi hat etc
you can also use track 8 as master and have fun with Freeze delay (let the original go through) but it requires to send the headphones output with a metronome to the drummer, also necessary if you use LFO’s
Retap the tempo if the drummers get carried on
Have fun!!
Those are great suggestions above.
I’d suggest using a sub mixer with 4 mono outs if possible (not 2x stereo outs and panned) and use that to EQ your stems and ride gain input.
That would free up all of your machines for non EQ purposes, and if not using dynamic mics you’ll need something to provide phantom power anyway.
I need a mixer…Did you had any microphone feedback problems when octatrack was a mixer?
I have been sampling live drums lately and I find that a kick, snare and overhead mic works well. Using an external mixer is really the only way to go. I also suggest compression/eq/gating on every mic but it is not absolutely necessary. Using subgroups on the mixer, send kick to input A, snare to B, etc.
Communicating with the players beforehand is as important as any technical consideration. Set up some simple hand or head signals to let them know when you are recording and when it is best that they play sparsely.
Chaos can be great but I have had the best success when each person has a defined role, like drummer A plays kick and snare, OT plays hihat and percussionist plays timbale, etc. You can switch roles as you wish and they are not set in stone, but I have found it to be a good starting place.
Bonus points for setting up record triggers so the players can trigger sample recording themselves! Any keyboard with a sustain pedal input can easily be converted into a footpedal sending CC59 60-62 (record AB/CD).
Good luck and report back!
arrangement separation and signals are great ideas. I do want it to be danceble… Will report back asap. … I 'm getting too excited.
reporting back:
The show ended 5 am. People were dancing. We played 3 long sets. The best one was playing back to back with afrobeat dj. Begining was to noisy and too loud. I set the machine with 2 tracks recording drums - crossfaded for resampling. The rest was my prepared drum loops, chains and chops. after dj made people dance, we took over and didnt let them go.
To make it danceble i missed the bass lines and that is why playing back to back with dj helped to keep it up. I could sample him as well.
Thank you for all you help and wisdom. Its inspiring forum and I m very happy to be part of it.
cool gig. thanks for reporting back.
f8ck, i REALLY want to play with live musicians now. don’t have the time, mics, or setup.
great forum. great suggestions. so much inspiration.