Recording 2+tracks at the same time

[Death]

I just purchased a yamaha 8-track and want to do a little recording in my basement. I want to record drums, but I cant get a responce from more than one track when trying to record. Ex. If I mic the kick, snare and a overhead crash, only the mic that is on track one will pick up anything. Is it possible to record more than one track at a time? or was I confused when buying it? Also, how come there is no gain control on tacks 5-8? It's very difficult to set levels without them. Thank you, this is a very wonderful site and I hope someone can help me. Please, if possible send a reply directly to my E-mail, Death91380@aol.com
Thank you, Bryan

[Dougie Johnson]

Bryan:
You can record on at least 2 tracks, maybe all 8 at the same time.
Sounds like your problem may be in panning.

Example: If you have 8 tracks, and you are getting ready to record, the pans should be set like this:

1-left 2-right 3-left 4-right
5-left 6-right 7-left 8-right

This applies to all units, no matter how many tracks they have. This pattern remains the same.

So: If you are miking the Bass drum in track 1, pan it all the way to the left. Then bring your levels up to around
-3 to 0 on the meter. Then if you are miking Snare on track 2, do the same thing, but pan it all the way to the right.
Regarding the gain controls: You are probably referring to the pre-amps built into the first couple of tracks.
Set them as you would if you are using those first four tracks, pan them accordingly as I stated above.
That'll do it.
DJ
and so on.

Let me know if this helped!
DJ

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Skull and Crossbones:

What Yamaha do you have? MD-8 digital? Or an 8 track tape deck?

I do not doubt the panning advice of Doug; however, on my MD-8, I record my drum machine on a track; I do chords on another track; the pan dials are straight up; if I want to pan later, I can, like putting the bass a little on the left speaker.

But, I do not record live drums with multiple mics; so, maybe I just record like you do but take a different path?

Green Hornet

[MGS]

If you have no gain controls on tracks 5-8 then your deck records 4 tracks (1 through 4) at once. Plug your sources into inputs 1 through 4 and let 'er rip. Make sure your channel selects are at the mic/line position and not the tape position when recording.

Mark