Recording more than one instrument at a time

[Tom OK]

Hello:
Well, being a newbie I guess I'm entitled to one stupid question. I've been using Acid Music Studio. I don't bother with loops, I just record my own music. I'm ok with first putting down a drum track then bass or guitar then vocals and that's fine but I can't seem to find any information out there on recording more than one instrument at a time and keeping individual control of them on the computer.

I know I could use a mixer and adjust them that way but the output of the mixer still ends up at a 3.5MM input going to the computer. How do you do a live recording and have each instrument assigned to a separate track?

Thanks for any input.
Tom

 

[rob aylestone]

You'll need a multi input mixer - then every input can be separate - commonly available from 4 through to 32 ins and outs.

 

[Tom OK]

Thanks for the reply. So If I use the mixer and have 4 inputs do they show up on the DAW as 4 separate tracks and do I have to use both the mixer and controls on the DAW for levels etc?

 

[TalismanRich]

To further clarify what Rob says, there are several ways that you can do multichannel recording.

The first and easiest (I think) is with a multitrack recorder such as the Zoom R24 or LiveTrak I20, Tascam DP-24SD, DP-32SD or Model 24 recorders. They are self contained units where you can plug from 8 to 16 mics at a time. They are portable, so they work great for recording live shows, but can also serve as the basis for a home recording setup. In some of these units are also designed to function as the PA mixer in addition to the recorder.

Beyond that you can buy audio interfaces with from 1 to 8 mic preamps, plus many will allow you to add 8 or 16 more mic preamps from an outboard unit. They feed audio to the computer via the USB port. An 8 channel interface will show up as 8 individual tracks in your DAW.

You mention having Acid Studio, so I'm assuming you're familiar with multitracking. What you don't mention is how you get your audio into Acid. USB mic? Audio interface?

 

[Tom OK]

I've done analog recording in the past using a mixer and a Teac 4 track. Man am I old!
When I use Acid music studio I used an Alesis drum machine directly into the computer, then I recorded my acoustic guitar, bass and vocal using an ART tube MP preamp. I made up a cable with a 1/4" plug on one end and a 3.5MM plug on the other end then plugged it into the mic input on the computer. So if I were to use an audio interface with a USB output does the DAW automatically recognize how many tracks there are and create the tracks on the console? Can you give me the names of some audio interfaces I can check out? Thanks.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

You create tracks as you need them and set each one to receive signal from the hardware input of you choice.

Google USB audio recording interface to see a whole range of options. Or visit one of the retailers such as Sweetwater.

 

[gecko zzed]

How do you do a live recording and have each instrument assigned to a separate track?

There are a number of ways of doing this.

Most commonly these days is to use an audio interface with a number of inputs (that number depending on how many instruments you expect to record at once). The audio interface then streams the data via USB cable (or sometimes firewire) to your computer where you can record it in your DAW with each instrument assigned to a separate track. This gets round the problem of everything going through the 3.5mm input, which is not usually a good option at the best of times.

 

[TalismanRich]

If you are running the mixer out the the 3.5mm jack then you are running audio into your computer's sound card, which is far from the optimum way to record. Besides not give the best quality, you're limited to 2 channels from your mixer.

An audio interface will convert the audio signals into digital inside the device, and then feed that directly to your computer. When you set up the device as the source of your inputs, then you will find you have multiple channels. You can get an idea how things are routed with an audio interface from the attached screen shot from my Tascam 16x08 interface. You have 16 channels of digital audio available, 8 from microphone preamps and 8 from line or instrument inputs. All 16 channels are available at one time, and its already in digital format.

The audio interfaces also will give provisions for having both monitors and headphones. In essence you don't even use the sound card system in your computer.