Advice on recording drums

My son recently switched back to acoustic drums and I now need some advice on the best way to record them. I have an Audix 7 piece microphone set that I will be using along with my Delta 44 sound card. I currently have a small Mackie mixer (802-VLZ3). This mixer only has 3 XLR inputs. I need an inexpensive way to get 7 XLR mics into my sound card at the same time. In looking around, I was not able to find a small mixer with that many XLR inputs. The closest thing I have found so far is a Samson MDR1064. It has 6 XLR inputs plus 2 other inputs that use ¼ phono. The recordings will be just for fun so we don’t need anything high-end.
 
Thanks
Mark

You can buy 1 microphone impedance matching transformer. These have an XLR input on one end and a 1/4" plug on the other. See if it works on all the channels your mixer has, i.e. that you get a strong enough signal level. If 1 of those works, you can get 3 more and use them. I think mine cost $18 a few years ago. It's an Audio-Technica unit and the model # is CP8201. It worked fine for me into a TASCAM Portastudio 414 mk II.
But buy 1 before going whole-hog, just in case the signal level isn't high enough.

4 separate tracks into my MC4 project through my Delta 44 sound card

Isn't MC4 limited to 2 concurrent inputs (or a single stereo pair)?  In which case you're not going to be able to do this except by separate takes.  Looks like you need 8 inputs (4x2), so you'd need Sonar for this if I'm understanding you correctly.

Wood is correct...MC4/5 is limited to 2 inputs regardless of the sound card's ability to handle more. So a mixer is the only way to go to get 7 mics in at the same time. You can premix them to a stereo feed into 2 tracks.

For mixers at a good price.... check Ebay.  I sold a really sweet 16 channel Carvin mixer there some time back...I paid about $300 new and sold it for under $100...still in really fine shape.  I don't hesitate to shop on Ebay for gear.

You said that it "seems to work" but I can't believe that MC is letting you record more than 2 channels at the same time as the guys have said above.  MC has always been limited to 2 simultaneous channels with the exception of MC Pro version.  have you actually tried to record all 4 channels of the delta at the same time?

yeah, you'll have to upgrade to SHS7 in order to take advantage of all 4 inputs and outputs of the delta 44 (it's a great card, btw, that's what I use).

http://www.cakewalk.com/images/musiccreator_4_vs_musiccreator_5.pdf

that's a comparison of MC4 vs MC5 and you'll notice that both of them say they only have 2 simultaneous I/O available.

yes and no.  in MC4 you were allowed to choose any two inputs available.  you could choose 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 or 1 and 4 or whatever combination you wanted, but you could still only choose 2 inputs.  the other 2 wouldn't work.

in MC5 you can only choose inputs in pairs.  only 1 & 2 or 3 & 4, but never 1 & 3 or 1 & 4.

I just tested it and it worked. I verified that I am running Music Creator 4.2.2
Here is how I setup my test.
Using the setting I posted above, I plugged in all 7 mic’s (XLR) to my mixing board with about two feet separating each mic. (First 3 mic’s have a dedicated track & the last 4 share track 4). I armed the record to all 4 tracks in MC. I hit the main record button and all 4 tracks started to record. I started speaking into each mic, starting with mic 1 saying the mic number. When I played it back, I was able to see and hear that the first 3 mics were recorded only on the corresponding track. The last 4 mic’s were all recorded only to track 4.
I have posted a link to a screen print of my test recording.
Not sure why it works, but it is what I was trying to get done. So unless someone can tell me about a problem that this might cause when I start adding other instruments, I will go with this.
Thanks again to all that offered help and advice.
Mark
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj239/69_Cobra_Jet/CakewalkScreenprint.jpg

Yes, it looks like you have a little MC Pro 24 in your MC 5. (Pro 24 allowed 4 inputs.)
Maybe you have some SONAR in there, too. Have you tried more than 4 simultaneous tracks, yet?

not sure.  it's not supposed to work that way.  what I'd worry about is that it will stop working and that it will work like it's supposed to and limit you to 2 simultaneous inputs at a crucial time of your recording.

Beagle


not sure.  it's not supposed to work that way.  what I'd worry about is that it will stop working and that it will work like it's supposed to and limit you to 2 simultaneous inputs at a crucial time of your recording.

It worries me as well.
Thanks for everyone's help
Mark

Beagle


not sure.  it's not supposed to work that way.  what I'd worry about is that it will stop working and that it will work like it's supposed to and limit you to 2 simultaneous inputs at a crucial time of your recording. 
 
 
 
 
 
Well it happend. I Can't record on 4 tracks anymore. Right not I can not record on tracks 3 or 4 at all. Any advice? 
 

I'd say you are ready for one of the X1 versions. Acknowledged full support of your multiple inputs. I have to assume your skill set has grown in the past year. You have capable hardware.

 
Robert, I’m not so sure that your assumption would be correct.
What seems to be occurring is I can’t enable  more than one “Audio Driver” at a time under Options, Audio, Drivers.  If I chose ¾ I can’t record on ½. I’m thinking of removing and reinstalling MC4 to see if it fixes the problem.
If I did upgrade to one of the X1 version what would happen to all my old projects that I made in MC4? What type of learning curve might I expect to have?
 

Mark Viera

I'd say you are ready for one of the X1 versions. Acknowledged full support of your multiple inputs. I have to assume your skill set has grown in the past year. You have capable hardware.

 

If I did upgrade to one of the X1 version what would happen to all my old projects that I made in MC4? What type of learning curve might I expect to have?
 

All your old projects from MC4 will open perfectly in X1. I did the cross-grade to X1 a few months back and I'm liking it pretty good now. BTW..... you can also open the projects again in MC4 after having run them in X1. You get a warning that not everything might work, but for me it always has worked just fine. I find I'm using MC4 very little as I learn how to do everything in X1 now.

If MC4 fits your needs except for the input limitation, then I do believe that X1 Essentials will fit you well for your purpose.