Recording Drums Question. need help:)

[BillEvansFan]

I am new to the whole recording process. I am curious when recording drums to the computer am i going to need a mixer? And if i do buy a mixer isnt it just going to produce one channel of all the mics mixed when i plug it into the computer? Is it possible to be able to mix down each mic on a seperate track while the mixer is pluged into the computer? or if im only going to use 4 mics is it better to plug each mic into my sound card? I am in the dark here and any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

Rich

[RideTheCrash]

I'm not 100% sure myself but I'll do my best. Yes, they will mix down to one track on your computer... unless you have direct outs (right...? So each track has it's own specific out) on your mixer and have a soundcard with multiple ins so on software you can set up each track to an assigned track on the mixer.

Maybe someone else can explain that better...

[tmix]

Welcome to the board!
I'll try to answer your question.
If your sound card bringing sounds into your computer is only a stereo (2 channel) card that is the maximum amount of drum (or any other type) tracks you can bring in at a time.
If you have a mixer you can submix any number of microphones up to the limit of channels your mixer has, and then record from the stereo or mono outs of you mixer.
Keep in mind any mix decisions you make at this stage can not be changed later.
For the most flexibility in later mix decisions you would need a sound card that has 4 to 8 (or more?) input channels and a mixer (or stand alone mic preamps) that have the ablilty to output a "direct out" from each independant channel strip to the sound card.
As a drummer and a recording engineer I would recommend trying to achieve the drum sound you are looking for with the minimum amount of microphones you can. There are many reasons for this for which many threads have been written, but it pays off in the long run to make it simple when you are learning, and to keep it simple when you have learned as well.

tmix

[Track Rat]

How many mic preamps do you have and how many inputs on your soundcard?