New Member - Quick mixer recording question

[NeoHippy]

Originally Posted by calluma11

Hi all,

Been into music recording (mainly for YouTube and friends uni apps) for a while, but recently started looking toward live work with my acoustic trio.

I'll be getting a mixer to plug everything into, but i also want to be able to use it to record more than 2 inputs at once, ie with my band all together (i have a fast track pro at the minute)

My question is if i get a mixer that doesnt happen to be usb, can i hook it up to the fast track with rca cables (or any way) and get a channel by channel input to my DAW, rather than all in the same one.

Eg.
I'm thinking of getting a 16 channel mixing board, so if i filled 8 channels on the board, is there any way i could get 8 seperate channels to edit on my DAW.

Apologies if this has been asked before and / or is in the wrong topic.

Looking forward to your contributions,
Callum Aveling

hi,

it depends on the mixer and interface your are using!!??

after a quick google search it seems that your interface just has 2 mono ins...

so you wont be able to record more than 2 signals at a time!!

and it also depends on your mixer...if you want to record each channel you will need some kind of optional output per channel....like a direct out or enough auxes (8 if you want to record 8 channels) or enough sub groups you can rout the channels on!!!

hope i could help

[calluma11]

Hi,

Not decided on which i'm getting (buying a Taylor in early June), but i'm looking toward something not dissimilar to the Mackie ProFX16 or Mackie CFX16 (first has usb, latter doesnt)
I believe there's only 2 aux outs, and 4 sub groups.

Thanks for your input, it was as I assumed, but you definately cleared up any misunderstandings i had. Think i'll look for a usb / firewire one.

Thanks again,
Callum

[NeoHippy]

Originally Posted by calluma11

Hi,

Not decided on which i'm getting (buying a Taylor in early June), but i'm looking toward something not dissimilar to the Mackie ProFX16 or Mackie CFX16 (first has usb, latter doesnt)
I believe there's only 2 aux outs, and 4 sub groups.

Thanks for your input, it was as I assumed, but you definately cleared up any misunderstandings i had. Think i'll look for a usb / firewire one.

Thanks again,
Callum

ok, you do get a new interface..i missunderstood that!!

if you have a direct out on each channel you are good too????

in some cases you also could get the signal from the insert connections...does your mixer have inserts??

if the send is on the ring you could "half-plug-in" the jack and geht the singnal directly after the preamp(usually at least...so your recording will not have any eq etc)...not the best way..we call it the "russian way"(no offense against the russians) :D

[krushing]

In most of these cases, you can just skip the mixer altogether and simply get an interface with the appropriate number of inputs - because that's what you're gonna need anyway to get separate channels recorded simultaneously.

[calluma11]

Originally Posted by NeoHippy

ok, you do get a new interface..i missunderstood that!!

if you have a direct out on each channel you are good too????

in some cases you also could get the signal from the insert connections...does your mixer have inserts??

if the send is on the ring you could "half-plug-in" the jack and geht the singnal directly after the preamp(usually at least...so your recording will not have any eq etc)...not the best way..we call it the "russian way"(no offense against the russians) :D

I'm not 100% sure on what it does and doesnt have, as i dont yet have the mixer. This is helping me choose what kind of things to consider before buying.
This link http://img5.cherchons.com/marchand/s...fx-16-mkii.jpg is the non usb (cheaper) version, i'm new to the larger mixers so would appreciate a little help with the explanation regarding the russisan way please.
The eq etc doesnt matter too much because if i'm putting it into my DAW then i have a better control on eq anyways

Thanks for your input

[calluma11]

Originally Posted by krushing

In most of these cases, you can just skip the mixer altogether and simply get an interface with the appropriate number of inputs - because that's what you're gonna need anyway to get separate channels recorded simultaneously.

I'll be buying a mixer either way for the live stuff, i just thought i may be able to combine if i want to record myself on vox and guitar, a friend on vox and guitar, a friend on piano and one on cajon. If i bought the usb version and plugged it into the computer port, would the channels not come out individually?

Callum

[NeoHippy]

Originally Posted by calluma11

I'll be buying a mixer either way for the live stuff, i just thought i may be able to combine if i want to record myself on vox and guitar, a friend on vox and guitar, a friend on piano and one on cajon. If i bought the usb version and plugged it into the computer port, would the channels not come out individually?

Callum

i think krushing didnt realize you need the mixer for live-gigs to...

if you dont make any live sound you will be good with just the interface!!!

so...i googled a bit , because the tech-info of the mixer doesnt say how the inserts are connected (tip, ring)...and you cant see it from the picture you posted ^^...

this mixer doesnt have direct outs and to few aux/groups for every channel..

i found a generel info of how the cfx series is connected:

http://www.mackie.com/pdf/cfxseries_hu.pdf

on page 3 of this "manual" you can find at the left bottom the column "insert points"...

it its possible to use the inserts as an "direct out"...

you just need a mono jack (t/s, not TRS)...and just plug it into the insert until you hear ONE little click(its like half way in--> the russian way ^^)...so you will not interrupt the channel signal going to the sum bus, but you can split it and record it to your interface line input!!!

,,, everything all right????

ps: the only bad thing about that insert thingy is that you will never be able to have a balanced signal between the insert and your line in on the interface...so you have to keep the cables as short as possible to avoid "electro-smog" in your line signal

[calluma11]

NeoHippy thanks for your reply, hugely informative!
I'll only be recording in either my bedroom or study, which arent massive anyway so they will be short cables.
Thanks again
Callum