Yo N.tah.mass! What Blazing Strings is trying to tell you is essentially true. A powered mixer is exactly the reverse of what you need for multitrack recording. Its mission is to take a bunch of signals and make them into 2 (or more) that output enough power to drive speaker arrays. A recording console (a big-ass studio mixer) Is designed to take a bunch of signals and route them to a number of *line level* outputs. Sometimes, two or more signals (channels) are routed to a single output, called a "bus". So, a 16 X 4 mixer has 16 inputs, that have to be routed to 4 outputs or busses. A recording interface is designed to send a number of signals to a computer in some digital format, so those separate signals can be processed separately, and then mixed to 2 (usually)- left and right- which is the audio format used by most commercial sound systems. Four is really cool, but it's a bitch with headphones-you have to have four ears.
A multitrack recorder is the same thing, but with a specialized (and limited in certain ways) computer built in. Both systems contain preamplifiers (as does a mixing console) to raise the weak signal produced by microphones to line level, and then an analog to digital (A-D) converter to turn that line level input into digital code that the computer can understand.
The bottom line- how much this costs is a function of: 1. how many simultaneous inputs do you get? 2. How good are the preamps? 3. How good is the A-D conversion? 4. How good is the rest of the hardware in the system (potentiometers, switches, faders, etc.)? The frightening truth in recording- One *channel* and its associated hardware, preamps, and A-D conversion can vary in price from about $50 to $5000 or more. This is not counting the mics, which can cost about the same per channel. Most inexpensive interfaces will only allow 2 channels of simultaneous recording. Mid-priced systems, up to $1000 or so, usually allow up to 8 channels at one time. As the numbers above indicate, that means that those 8 channels are *not* using top-notch preamps, A-D conversion, and hardware, by a long shot. In the $2500 range and up, you start to see interfaces that can handle up to 16 simultaneous ins, but usually require additional outboard preamps.
This is why most folks who aren't millionaires usually start with 4-8 channels, and use mixing buses to combine some groups of signals (drums are the biggest channel eater), or record the parts individually using headphones and guide tracks and/or click tracks, and mix it later. It has taken me 6 years and about $40,000 dollars to get to the pont where I can record 18 simultaneous inputs, with a few of them going through a top-notch signal chain, and to achieve a room that sounds good enough to make all that hardware worth the expense and effort.
My best advice to you is to get a moderately priced interface that uses firewire and has 8 inputs. Then acquire the best mics you can for whatever it is you want to record, and start modifying the room where you are going to record stuff to reduce nasty reflections. Expect to spend a lot of money on peripherals (cables, headphone distribution, stuff you never thought of). The frightening fact is that to do what you are asking, and do it well enough to make it worth the trouble, *isn't* cheap. The good news is- it's cheaper than it used to be.
People around here have heard the question you have asked put 1000 different ways. The problem is that what I hear when I read it is- " I want to build a race car like the big boys. I don't want to race in the Indy 500 or anything, I just want to go around the track real fast, and it would be real cool to have my tires and oil changed in 18 seconds. I want to spend under $1000. What should I buy first? Oh, and I already own a Dodge Caravan with 100,000 miles on it."
Understand this- I'm not trying to bust your balls, nor am I making a joke out of your question. I'm trying to help you, and that help often begins with a reality check. Good luck.-Richie
