Hello.
I'm about to record my band.
I am using a Fostex reel to reel 8 track recorder with a Roland M-16E 16 channel mixer.
Our band consists of 2 guitars, bass, drums and vocals.

I will only have room for 4 drum tracks.

I have done heaps of home recording before and have always achieved a pretty good drum sound.

This is what I am thinking of doing:
track 1: kick
track 2: snare
track 3 and 4: combine floor and rack tom as well as stereo overheads/rooms into tracks 3-4 using an external mixer.

I understand this would take a lot of perseverance to get the levels right, and of course I cannot undo any mistakes like one of the toms being too loud etc.
But do you think this is a good idea?

This should be in the Tech Room. The Studio Questions area is specifically for questions about recording at Electrical.

I think your plan sounds fine, although I've had good results in similar situations using kick, snare and mono overhead, or kick and two overheads with no close mics, but of course it depends on the style of music which of these would sound most appropriate.

I'm a noob. Give me a break..

Check http://www.danalexanderaudio.com/glynjohns.htm out.

Follow the instructions and a wonderful drum recording will follow.

Also, try using http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/search.php to avoid having a new bum hole torn.

Welcome to Electrical.

Cheers.
We recorded yesterday. The drums sounded really good.
We used:

cheaper model Shure kick drum mic - Kick
Sm57 - Snare
Sm58 - Floor tom
Sm58 clone rack tom.
2 realistic PZM mics - room/overheads.

I used a 4-channel mixer to combine the two overhead/rooms with both toms.
I successfully managed to mic the whole kit up using only 4-channels on the 8-track.

The PZMs were panned %100 left and right. The toms were about %10 L & R.

These PZMs were placed on the floor 1 metre and a half in front of the drumkit and about 2 and a half meters apart.

I did this for two reasons. Our drummer has very loud cymbals and hi-hats, plus I wanted to get a really nice room sound (like Led Zeppelin, Nirvana In utero etc.).

Because we were using tape, I read somewhere that if you drive the levels past 0 it creates a nice warm subtle overdrive and also levels out the signal. I want to avoid using any dynamic processing in the final mix , bleeding the channels slightly was very effective.

In the end we had to scrap this recording because the bass channel was fucked up due to the mic chord being dodgy. We couldn't simply redo the bass because the bass is leaked quite a bit into the drum tracks.

So we are doing the whole thing again next week. I'll keep you posted.

Seriously, try the Glynn Johns technique I posted when you record again. It will sound seriously badass if you take the time to get it right.

I have tried similar techniques to what you mentioned. But I like having everything mic'd up.
I'm really happy with the technique we used.
Although, my drummer complained he could not hear enough of the ride hit. I might aim the floor tom mic closer to the ride next time.

I second the Glyn Johns and support the Blumlein as well as adding a pzm on the floor about a metre in front of the kick for a drum sound like that.

Thanks people.
If you would like to see how my recordings turned out. They are listed on our Myspace: www.myspace.com/midnitecaller

It was all recorded live in the room, with only vocal overdubs.

I think it sounds great. And the tunes are really growing on me. You've got a new fan.