Should I buy a mixer now?

[AmusingistheDaw]

Right now, we have a roland vs 16 track. I need 7 tracks for my drums, and after the rest of the stuff is recorded...I'm left with 4 tracks.

I'm concerned about using a good preamp for each piece of the kit that has a mic on it. Should I buy a mackie, or something similar with good preamps and mix down to 2 tracks on the roland?

Or should I be looking at some sort of audio interface, or a preamp with multiple inputs? We eventually will be getting something like the tascam x-48, but it may be quite a while...so I'm looking for something to use now, but we could also use in the future.

I'm leaning towards a nice mackie 8 channel mixer...but I really don't know.

 

[gcapel]

If you plan on keeping the roland and using it I wouldn't buy a mixer. I think you have the right idea about the mic pre's but to make it worth while your going to have to look at something different than mixer pre's.

Something that comes to mind for four channels in one rack (for drums) is the focusrite ISA. Mackie also makes a 8 channel pre in the onyx line.

 

[AmusingistheDaw]

I suppose I could use the roland and bounce tracks to mix down 4 tracks into 2.

I was thinking mixing the 2 overheads and 3 toms into 2 tracks, while keeping the snare and bass alive in the final mix.

We already have an avalon pre for the overheads...so I suppose a 2 channel pre would be a better buy.

What's a decent pre (that will make a noticeable difference) for the snare and bass tracks?

 

[TheChikenMaster]

The m audio dmp3

 

[gcapel]

From what i have seen, you have to all most spend 500.00 a channel to really hear a difference. I have heard people say the truesystems p solo's are a great drum pre. And I mentioned the focusrie ISA series.

Don't get me wrong you can get very usable tracks that sound fine with a m audio pre. I myself have one good two channel pre (vintech) but it's not great for everything. I mainly record guitar at my place.

 

[moresound]

I tend to shy away from anything Mackie or Behringer ...Just to cheap in quality and pron to easy breakage.

 

[dintymoore]

I'm of the "not so many but stellar quality" thinking. I'd rather have one Neumann U87 on the drum kit into one great mic pre and start there than lots of so-so mics into a cheap mixer.

You should be able to get a pro sound with 3 or 4 mics on a drumset. You shouldn't need to mic each tom, I hated that shit when they started it in the 70's and still do.

What's next, record Flea's bass with each string on a separate track so we can "fix" it later? The drumset is one instrument and if it doesn't sound right with 1 mic, the drums or the drummer or the room need fixed.

Of course it's all like shoes, I'm just saying what fits me and you of course should do what your heart tells you.

 

[grimtraveller]

You should be able to get a pro sound with 3 or 4 mics on a drumset. You shouldn't need to mic each tom, I hated that shit when they started it in the 70's and still do.

What's next, record Flea's bass with each string on a separate track so we can "fix" it later? The drumset is one instrument and if it doesn't sound right with 1 mic, the drums or the drummer or the room need fixed.

Of course it's all like shoes, I'm just saying what fits me and you of course should do what your heart tells you.

But in a way, you're not really saying simply what fits you coz you've made a kind of blanket statement "You shouldn't need to mic each tom", followed by "I hated that shit......and still do", topped and tailed with "if it doesn't sound right with one mic the drums or the drummer....need fixed". And to someone that is new, who may be thinking in terms of 3-10 mics an experienced drummer's words carry influential weight.
But I'm not having a pop, Dinty. Your view has it's place and in some instances is definitely the way to go. But there are a variety of ways of capturing drums and I kind of feel sometimes that the options should be noted then give the biases and preferences. There's nothing wrong with them unless they're in isolation.
You've only got to look at a drumkit and think about the many different genres that it lends it's sounds to to see that it is possibly the most diverse of instruments, encompassing metal, wood, plastic, skin, highs, mids, lows, loudness, quietness, rhythm, time and alot more besides. So, yeah, it is one instrument but it does alot of things at once and I guess that means that there are going to be many ways to capture what it does in a satisfactory way.