What Recording Equipment Is Available?

[ecc83]

"A two mic input mixer gets you 4 mic tracks...<snip>"

Are you saying the inputs are each stereo? I assumed each mic track was mono, and so I'd need four tracks for vocals, guitar, drums, and bass (if I can ever find anyone to play those for me!)

Right chap! First off, forget terms like "mono" and "stereo" which way the two channels are recorded is decided in the DAW, the software that does the recording. A 2 input interface will/can record two channels, guitar and voice if you will (you can of course CHOSE to record them as a stereo track)

But...IF you went for the next AI up, and there are many of them, it can have the same two mic channels but also two more line input channels which can record the output of, as I said, a small mixer*. That would give you four, discrete microphone inputs. Yes, you could buy a 4 mic input interface but they tend to be more expensive than the AI plus mixer combination and in any case, there are very few things as handy to the budding recording musician as a mixer! Mixers can of course be had with vastly more than 2 mic inputs but they all basically "mix" down to two tracks. Patently to feed two PA speakers for live work, headphones or indeed a 2 channel recording device.

*These are legion, makers such as Behringer, Alllen and Heath, Mackie, Soundcraft, Tascam and many more.

Behringer Xenyx 802S 8 Input Mixer

Get the Behringer Xenyx 802 8 Input Mixer from Andertons Music Company today!

www.andertons.co.uk

Just an example, many more.

Dave.