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i have a basic drum microphone recording kit. It has 4 different microphones. I aslso have a Tascam soundcard with two mic inputs for live recording and another two inputs. I currently am thinking about getting a macbook for my recorsding laptop. is this good? and if i need more inputs should i get another soundcard and move up to a mixer?

G-ram

Comments

jg49 Wed, 09/09/2009 - 16:55

I was on a flight from LA to San Fran with a girl named Susie when, and hand to God this is a true story, she turns to me and asks "Do watermelons grow on trees or underground?" Well I never have been able to pass something like that up and said "They grow underground and they use heavy equipment to mine for them...no sorry I can't do that to you....they grow on trees and despite hard hats several hundred migrant workers die each year in melon harvesting accidents." The guy in the row beside us didn't stop chortling for the rest of the trip. The simple point is if she had simply asked me "Where do watermelons grow?" I would have told her they grow on vines on the ground.
The point is sometimes it is best to ask a question in it's simplest form.
You have four mics, and I assume you are going to mic a drum set?
You have a Tascam soundcard that has two xlr inputs and two other inputs (what type of input?)
Will your proposed purchase of a Macbook be compatible with the Tascam soundcard?
If you need four xlr channels can you daisy chain soundcards or would some other system be a better choice?

Codemonkey Wed, 09/09/2009 - 17:08

I will say yes they are, but without voting because it might be misleading.

I say yes because they can be used to great effectiveness given the right skills. Simply pointing mics at things and turning other things up is not the way to get great sound.

But this "yes" is misleading because with your current setup, it won't entirely work. You need XLR inputs for mics because they generally lead to preamps. Unlike 1/4" inputs which generally don't. So you either ignore 2 of your mics, or opt for a different device.
Yes you can mic a kit on 2, heck - it can be done on 1 mic. You can mic a whole band with 1 mic and it can sound OK. But not without at least some experience.