I'm not sure that that set of components would ever produce a "decent" sound, but you can at least make the best of what you have.

First off, although you can record only two tracks at once with this setup, how do you connect the 7 microphones to the 2 microphone inputs of the mixer?

Those Xenyx mixers have low headroom, so you need to run the microphone channels with the faders (the bottom set of controls) turned well up and the gain trims (the two knobs just below the microphone inputs) kept as low as is consistent with getting enough output from the mixer.

Don't use any of the mixer's EQ or effects. If necessary, apply these in your DAW software when post-processing the recordings, although this will EQ the mixed track. It's better to get the best sound on a track by choosing the best microphone available for the track and spend time positioning it carefully than to tweak the EQ in an attempt to compensate for poor microphone choice or placement.

Boswell wrote:

First off, although you can record only two tracks at once with this setup, how do you connect the 7 microphones to the 2 microphone inputs of the mixer?.

i have converts from xlr to 1/4. it works.

Re: Drums though mixer, stereo out. need help getting good s

Frailty wrote:
Im currently using Cubase5 (if you have another progam to suggest i will have no problem acquiring it)

I see. I'm just curious - how is it that you have no problem acquiring the software?

Your connections of course will work. However, that mixer only has two mic pres. You will need more.

No no, he doesn't need extra microphone preamp's. If he has XLR to 1/4 inch adapters, they in all probability are low impedance to high impedance transformers. 10:1 or even 15:1 winding ratio will give you that many DB of free gain. That's enough to make those low level 1/4 inch inputs adequate as low gain microphone preamp's. Probably somewhere in the area of 20 to 30 DB worth of gain? Plenty of folks have done that. But you are still only recording 2 channels at a time. And with that unit, your manipulation of equalization is rather limited. So you really can't tweak the drums as one could with a professional rig. So, your best bet is to balance it up as well as you can. Then in your software you can squash it all with some software compression. Don't bother putting any microphones on the cymbals. You'll get enough of those anyhow. You want some drum tonality. What I would recommend is to isolate the bass drum to the left channel. Pan everything else to the right channel. Then you'll be cooking with gas. In mixing, you'll have more control and manipulation. Everything goes to center Mono but you can add a little stereo ambient reverb that will make all the difference. And so it goes. And so it goes.

Go for it
Mx. Remy Ann David

Re: Drums though mixer, stereo out. need help getting good s

Isn't the full version of Cubase 5 worth more than all of rest of your equipment?
It's like $600 isn't it?
You have 7 mics there and only a 2 channel mic mixer?
The other 1/4" inputs are for line level stuff, not mics
and you only have a 2 channel interface?
What you want is either an 8 channel mic mixer
and an 8 channel computer interface
then you could record all 7 mics on separate tracks in Cubase while you play.
then mix them in Cubase to stereo.
I would to the Shure website and read about micing drum sets....they have a great online pdf file that will give you all sorts of good info on micing drums!

Thanks for clarifying, Remy. I was not aware of that and now I know. And knowing is half the battle. :)