I am looking for a reccomendation on what to buy to accomodate drum mics that I plan on purchasing, my budget is somewhere around $500-600 for a mixer and drum mics. Any suggestions on how many tracks I should look for in a mixer? right now I have a 8 track digital recorder with 2 simultaneous inputs. (2 XLR and 2 1/4" with midi out only)

I'm considering an 8 track mixer for around 200$ and a 300$ stock drum mic set.

This isnt a professional setup obviously and I already have 1 condenser, I'm just trying to get it to where my recordings sound semi professional.

The 8 Track has various all the standards, compressors, loop effects, 4 band eq, etc. however since it only has two simultaneous inputs, I have no way of taking advantage of all those for each individual instrument. I can only mix the drums to the way I want them, condense it all to one, or two tracks (in stereo if I do that) then use all the recorders features on the drums as a whole. I could transfer them to a computer and use software to attempt to process them but I certianly dont have any professional or semi pro grade software.

Any advice in this situation would be great, thanks!

Well, I'm not sure that budget is gonna get you much. Maybe look at mixers from Behringer and mics from Nady or CAD. It's really low-end stuff, though.
You're looking for a way to record more than two tracks at once, maybe consider selling the 8-track you have now and investing that cash into software and a recording interface. With the multitrack software, you won't need a separate mixer, just mic pre-amps. You can find rackmount units that have just 4-8 mic pres with direct outs that you send to your recording interface. OR better, get a firewire recording interface with built-in mic pres. The software will have all the effects and processing you need to start.
This is assuming you have a computer reliable for recording.h

correct me if I'm wrong, but using an audio interface like that with the preamps and software, it would be the pre's processing the signals sent to the audio interface for further processing and mixing then going into my computers hard-drive where I can edit it with the software then save it as a finished product.

I suppose I should learn the fundamentals of DAW's huh?

My only question is, if I am editing the song from my computer, would the edited data once saved to my hard drive use the audio interface's sound card or my computers sound card? My computers sound card isn't really great and if I were to need to buy a high end one, that'd probably be more than I can afford.

Yep.
Mic-> preamp-> interface-> software(loaded in ram)-> hard drive.
The interface is solely for A/D/A conversion. Well, unless you get one with built-in mic pres and processing.

The beauty is, that most sound cards will work together with each other. You should be able to select whichever output on whichever soundcard you want to use. I have a Phase 88 and a Quattro; two different devices by different makers, but they give me a total of 12 analog inputs. Your recording interface will also have outputs on it you can use for your computer.

Your 8-track recorder is a DAW. So if you have a good grasp on that, then the multitrack software should make sense to you. It may take time to learn, but it will give you way more features to play with. Just keep in mind that using a computer for pro-audio means keeping your pc well maintained. It'll definitely be way different than the stand-alone DAW.

Just make sure you know what you need before you go on a shopping spree.
You want to be able to mic your drum kit better. So think about how many mics you want, how many inputs you'll need, how much control you want over the drum mix once they've been recorded. Think about future needs and expandability too. Do you want to transfer all your future recording projects to your pc? or do you just need the extra inputs for drums? There are all kinds of drum micing techniques you can read about or ask about in this forum.

Don't hold back any questions

Well I have a less than stellar sound card, and I don't think that it would serve as a very good monitoring tool at all so im not sure if I should use it to mix and process my recordings in my computer.

Is that a fair concern? If so, how much would a sound card that is realtively clear and high enough quality for a low ranged home studio run?

i just noticed this post and thought i would give you a heads up. most computers made in the last 3 or 4 years can support protools, sonar, etc... mabye not 16 tracks at a time but it will do the trick. my point is that if your sound card is to old, then chances are that your processer, busses, etc are probably to old too. just something to think about so you don't waste money on an investment like that
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I-Wont-Fade wrote:

Well I have a less than stellar sound card, and I don't think that it would serve as a very good monitoring tool at all so im not sure if I should use it to mix and process my recordings in my computer. Is that a fair concern? If so, how much would a sound card that is realtively clear and high enough quality for a low ranged home studio run?

i would say about 400 for an mbox2 that comes with pro tools 7 le.

once you get the right mics for drums (i use audix i5's because they're like sm57's but WAY more durable and that's important in case you accidentally hit one )
run it through a mixer with about 5 or 6 xlr inputs (balanced is always best for micing) then run that to your audio interface (like i suggested the mbox 2. and then that to pro tools. if you're interested i'll put up a link as to what it sounds like with a setup like that

cadencethefire wrote:

i would say about 400 for an mbox2 that comes with pro tools 7 le. once you get the right mics for drums (i use audix i5's because they're like sm57's but WAY more durable and that's important in case you accidentally hit one ) run it through a mixer with about 5 or 6 xlr inputs (balanced is always best for micing) then run that to your audio interface (like i suggested the mbox 2. and then that to pro tools. if you're interested i'll put up a link as to what it sounds like with a setup like that

I disagree with putting the drum mikes through a mixer. I use 1 microphone per input.

Bass, Drum, Snare, Toms (each getting their own) high hat, and 2 overheads for the cymbols. Then extras for roto toms, if used ever anymore and aux percussion.

This is better imo, because even if you do not get the mix right you can still tweak, and each channel can be compressed different etc.

RhoneRanger wrote:

cadencethefire wrote: i would say about 400 for an mbox2 that comes with pro tools 7 le. once you get the right mics for drums (i use audix i5's because they're like sm57's but WAY more durable and that's important in case you accidentally hit one ) run it through a mixer with about 5 or 6 xlr inputs (balanced is always best for micing) then run that to your audio interface (like i suggested the mbox 2. and then that to pro tools. if you're interested i'll put up a link as to what it sounds like with a setup like that I disagree with putting the drum mikes through a mixer. I use 1 microphone per input. Bass, Drum, Snare, Toms (each getting their own) high hat, and 2 overheads for the cymbols. Then extras for roto toms, if used ever anymore and aux percussion. This is better imo, because even if you do not get the mix right you can still tweak, and each channel can be compressed different etc.

not all pc interfaces have enough xlr ins to support a drum set, thats why the mixer can be a good thing. also "if you don't get the mix right" mabye you need more practice as an engineer, or mabye, dont record it until the mix is solid... just a couple of thoughts
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[quote="RhoneRanger"]

cadencethefire wrote:

Then extras for roto toms, if used ever anymore

I use rotos! Haha!
Back to the mic question, Samson makes an okay mic set for various sized (I think 4, 5, 7, and 8 piece sets). I was considering getting the 8 piece plus another 3-mic package for my 7-piece kit (which also has rotos, a zillion cymbals, and various accents). But lately I've been thinking I should really just get a ton of SM57s and a couple of nice condensers or something, plus an AKG kick mic.
-Zac

An MBox only has two simultaneous analog ins anyway. The original poster is trying to get away from that. Sure if you have to mix down to a single/stereo track to record, then that 's what you gotta do. It's not impossible to get good sounds like that-- I've done it. But separate tracks do get you more control and overall a more polished sound.

Hello, I just got a set of drum mics for £150. they aint great but they are far from rubbish! heres a link for them. Hope this helps.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Red5-Audio-Drum-Mics-7pc-Drum-Microphones-w-hardware_W0QQitemZ280162248642QQihZ018QQcategoryZ15198QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem