So, the lack of a budget has struck again and my bandmates require a recording of the drumtrack I recently wrote for the song the band's going to record a demo for. What do I do?

I pick up my iPhone and record my drumset. As unrealistic as it seems, I think I got away with it pretty well. Let me explain the process.

At first, I made sure everything was tuned up so that the resonance would not distort the microphone too much (of course, it's an iPhone mic; you won't get away with a perfectly clean recording. But every little thing helps.)
Then, I stapled three to four pillows in front of my kickdrum, to help it muffle.
I placed the iPhone behind a fifth pillow with the microphone facing the drumkit.
So I would have:

*4 pillows* -sound---> *1 pillow* iPhone

Then I went to play my track and after the recording finished, I loaded the file into Audacity (which is available for free) and cranked up the stereo and the reverb so that it would seem as a much bigger recording room.


I am pretty happy with the results. However, this recording is not gonna make it into the demo. It's just a stepping stone so that the guitarist and the singer know how the song is going.

Next week, we will record the actual drumpart in our rehearsal room (which we can't access now due to vacation) with the semi-professional microphone that is laying around there.