External mixer to 4 track

[analog aaron]

I was wondering what good it would do me to hook an external mixer (Alesis studio 24) to my 4 track (Tascam 242 mkIII)? Also, I'm guessing this is done by plugging into the sub in's?
A

 

[cusebassman]

Is that the two-track recorder Tascam makes?

The one reason I'd say is that the preamps on the Alesis are probably superior to whatever is available on the Tascam.

Otherwise, if you were recording a full band and only wanted to record it to stereo, you could set up a mix on the Alesis, and then run the stereo out to the Tascam - you wouldn't be able to remix the instruments once it hit tape, but it would be better than nothing.

 

[Lo-Fi Mike]

i agree with bassman,
you would have better pre amps (not to mention eq and the ability to run outboard gear) on the alesis.

I'm not to familiar with the 242, but if you have 2 inputs and are able to get 4 tracks at mixdown on the tascam I'm sure you could set it up so that you can mix each instrument in the tascam after the recording process.
you might need a headphone distributor and possibly a line mixer (unless you had the studio 32, then you could have a head phone mix of the whole band and just send the stereo drums to the tascam)

tascam:
track 1&2 = stereo drums
track 3 = bass
track 4 = guitar
mix it and bounce it down then add vocals

if you are short on mics you can run the guitar and bass direct while you are laying down drum tracks, just so the drummer can play along
then you can go back and mic the guitar cab with one of the mics you used on your drum set-up. a 57 is good on snare and guitar amp (unless you have a really nice condenser)

let me know if you need more help on this and i will look up the i/o on the alesis and the tascam and give you more exact info (as of now i'm just thinking outload)

--mike--