Starting out Equiptment

B

Blackdog.sn

New member
Hello,

I'm looking to start recording preferably analog with open reel to reel multitrack.

My real problem arrives with the mixing board choice. I would like to record the drums to one of the 8 tracks, same with guitar, vocals etc. The only thing is that i will prolly be micing the kit with 3 mics and i don't want each mic to have its own track. So which mixing board would be a good choice? (If i have to give each mic a track thats not a big problem though)

Also, do i need a pre-amp? Orignally i was just gonna go Mics --> Mixing Board --> Multitrack

Any advice, or suggestions would be great

Thank you,
Sam
 
I have always like Mackie boards, but the Yamaha gets a lot of positive feedback (do a serach). As already indicated most mixers have pre-amps (although only some of the channels may offer phantom power and XLR inputs).

The mixer you choose may in part be driven by the recording deck you choose.

If you choose an 8 track reel to reel, you would likely want at least 12 channels on your board (preferably 16). If you choose a 16 track reel to reel you would want 24-32 channels on your board.

With any mixer you should be able to submix drums to 1 or 2 tracks (I would suggest two tracks to allow for some stereo placement). If you are mic'ing the drums with 3 mics, I suspect you are planning the kick and 2 overheads - in which case you would pan the kick center and the overheads left and right (I would not suggest far left and right - perhaps 10 o'clock & 2 o'clock).

If you plan to use overheads, condensors a preferred - in which case phantom power is needed on at least some of the mixer channels (vocals noramlly work best with condensors as well).
 
you realy should give drums 2 different tracks, so that you can do it in stereo. But for just starting out, I would sugggest the yamaha mg series mixeres, or a soundcraft mixer as an upgrade.

yes the mixer has built in pres
 
notbradsohner said:
you realy should give drums 2 different tracks, so that you can do it in stereo.
Click to expand...

How would i do that. Have two of the tracks on the 8-track be identical, or have one of the mics as one track, and the other 2 mics on the other track? ( for the drums btw )


mikeh said:
If you choose an 8 track reel to reel, you would likely want at least 12 channels on your board (preferably 16). If you choose a 16 track reel to reel you would want 24-32 channels on your board.
Click to expand...

I have looked at the Yamaha MG series of mixers, and i noticed that they don't have 8 outputs, until you get into the larger boards. Like the 12 channel only have 4 outputs. http://yamaha.ca/content/proaudio/products/mixers/MG12-4/keyfeatures.jsp So how would have the mixer hooked up to all 8 inputs on the reel to reel?

Im prolly just missing something, but thanks for helping me out. :o
 
dog. you use the channel inserts on the yamaha mg to go direct out into a tape input.
i'll throw this out as an alternative.
an amd sempron pc in my area goes for about 350 bucks.
good for 40 tracks easy. then if you want more tracks mix to stereo and import the mix to a new session and add 39 more tracks.
add a yamaha mg mixer and a delta sound card and for a thousand bucks or much less probably you have a very flexible daw. just an idea.
 
if i used the 4 outputs from the mixer, there are still 4 other inputs on the mulittrack not being used. Maybe you need to explain it slower for me :confused:
 
Many 8 track recorders allow you to assign a signal to left input & right input and then "arm" a given track. This means the signal coming in on the left input feeds track 1, 3, 5 & 7 however if you only arm track t, that is the only track that will record the incoming signal.

If you choose to go direct to each of 8 tracks and you only have 4 outs from a mixer, then you will have to patch cables in and out (to assign the signal to given tracks) in which case you can only record 4 tracks at a time.

If you don't want to patch, then you need to consider a mixer that does provide either 8 sub-outs or which has 8 line outs. As an example, a Mackie 16 channel mixer may only have two main sub outs or 4 sub outs (depending on the age of the Mackie), but the first 8 channels have "channel inserts" that can be used as direct outs.
 
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