Lots of drums to mic, not so many inputs. HELP PLEASE!

[lyke_wake]

I'm new and all that yadda yadda yadda. OK here is my question for anyone who has the know-how and/or time to answer. OK. I have read a few books and a lot of articles/posts/interviews to do with recording. I relate all the recording advice and theory to my style of music and what I want to do and so far, in theory, everything seems to be all good except there is one gap - I have a fairly large drum kit (6 toms, 2 kicks) and I'm just wondering how I will be able to record each mic to a seperate track on the computer program I'm using?

I've read how to mix, EQ the bass drum and snare etc., about compression what mics to use where and when, how to set them up, reverb and room setup etc., but I seem to have missed the step where it is explained how you plug all your mics into the soundcard or mixer without having to mix to one track or having a very basic miced kit (snare, bass, over-heads etc.).

The question is, I've seen the Mackie 1640 with the FireWire card, and to ask a stupid question, is it true that I can use it to record each mic conected to the mixer on a seperate track on the multitrack program I'm using on the PC? I want to be able to mix the kick and snare differently etc. because I know they have different frequencies etc. as do the cymbals and toms (I'm not like really lazy person who just rocked up after looking for info 5 minutes, I have read books and lots of posts here, it's just I am missing something).

2nd question. I'm obviously not really using the mixer a whole lot in this situation, (although I know it's better to record a good mix prior to mixing on the comp than it is to EQ and fix etc. later on and I would rather use the XLR connecters to unbalanced just in case my cables get too long), so is there a soundcard or break out box with 16 inputs (perferably XLRs), or can I use 2 soundcards at once or (I have no idea just piecing together all the little bits of "nothing" i have tried to learn about this problem) can I get a breakout cable with enough inputs to record at least 12 (preferably 16) mics (please don't laugh at this one as it's just a "out-there" suggestion) or anything else that will solve the problem?

Ok sorry for the long and stupid question, but I have spent a lot of time trying to come up with a solution here and it's very fustrating to be this stupid but I'm really trying to get some stuff recorded decently. I don't have the time learn and attempt to record stuff to anywhere near a pro level. I don't know how or what I missed here but, as I said at the start I have read and understood almost everything else I need to do a simple recording except for this part.

Thanks in advance for being so understanding of my stupidity and replying with any help

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Yes the firewire option for the mackie 1640 will allow you to get 16 seperate channels of audio into your PC. The interface takes care of A-D conversion.

"although I know it's better to record a good mix prior to mixing on the comp than it is to EQ and fix etc."

I would say to eq etc. going in is not a great idea if your not very experienced. You're right in saying that you should get good sounds at source and not try to 'fix' anything in the mix. You should try and get sounds at the tracking stage which need very little or no eq. The time when you might need it more is when you're getting all those seperate elements (which sound great when solo'd 'cos you tracked so well) to sit together in the mix. On the other hand if you really like the sound that the eq in the board gives you, you might want to ignore this advice once you get a bit more familiar with it. There are no hard and fast rules.

"I would rather use the XLR connecters to unbalanced just in case my cables get too long"

By going balanced to unbalanced you won't be getting a balanced signal. So you'll still have to keep your cables as short as possible (and you'll be losing about 6dB).

 

[lyke_wake]

WOW! Thanks heaps for the info man. Much appreciated.