I'm planning on buying a mixer which will be able to digest several microphones. It has struck me that connecting the mixer to a computer (through USB) I may not be able to record each microphone individually. Recording is done with Audacity. Would this epiphany of mine bear any weight? I have read about a multichannel recording device on this site and was wondering if there are any other solutions in concord with a mixer. Any insight appreciated.
1 Answer
Of course there are, any mixer that comes with an audio interface is what you are looking for.
But they can be pricey ! You might be better off having an analog mixer and a separate audio interface. but if you can't and actually need to go mixer + interface, a walk to your nearest music store could find you something that fits your needs.
added by Roman, see comments
The mixer I'm interested in (see comments) has stereo output, which means it can put out sound through two channels. This means you individually send input to one of the channels. For example, if you are recording with four microphones, you can have two left (1) and two right (2) or one left and the rest right.
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Despite the incredible discount, it's a tad out of my price range. I'm leaning towards something like Behringer QX 1202USB. It does have "Built-in stereo USB/Audio Interface to connect directly to your computer.". Would you say this is what I'm looking for? Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 10:40
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This only handles 2 channels as being stereo! which means if you record a band you can't have separated instruments/channels but only the Sum of the sound in a stereo track, is this what u want ?– frcakeCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 10:48
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I see, there are two main "out" channels. In theory if I record with two microphones, I can have them in stereo, or in case of 4 microphones, two on one channel and two on the other? If you could please add all the info you've dished out in the comments to the answer I would very much appreciate it (things sometimes get lost in the comments). Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 10:53
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yes exactly, you have 2 separate channels , you could record instruments 2 by 2 giving 1 channel to each and end up having everything separated. Or 4 channels and using the pan pot (L-R) you can "split" the guitars left and the vocals right, and this is the only draw back to this , cause its actually stereo and not 2 channel, you will have to pan things left & right to give them their own channel which might sound tricky if you monitor the recording or want to record a live set!– frcakeCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 11:33
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Seriously dude, i don't think any of these will do justice , just buy small mixer and a small maybe 4input interface like focusrite scarlett or something.– frcakeCommented Jan 20, 2016 at 11:39