Technical question on audio interface

[jcameron99]

This may be the wrong place to ask this question. But here it goes.

I need to record 8 tracks/busses(?) at once. IE: a set of drums. I see lots of multi-input interfaces. None of them actually say in plain english, "You can record up to 8 busses at once into your DAW". What are the technical specs I should be looking for?

[Sturdy]

This is just my $0.02. I'm just a hobbyist.

If using mics, I found one of most important things to me is clean gain I can get from mic pres. In the specs that might show up as gain range, or dynamic range. I don't know how well specs translate into real life use, but lack of mic gain or noisy mic gain is something I notice. When I bought, that was a determining factor in what I bought.

I just record at 44.1khz, but to some people higher sample rates matter. Higher dynamic range in the AD/DA converters should mean cleaner sound all-else equal, but it's probably all relative to the limitation of sources and everything else whether it matters. I'm not in a perfect studio situation and manually denoise my pickup hum from guitars and basses, so I'm not sure overall the extra dynamic range helps me, but I guess it gives me a bit more room for error to the noise floor if I record a signal at a bit too low of level. That's really how I think of - gives me a margin of error on signal level. Back in 2000 I recorded at 16bit and I had to be very careful to get hot signal levels but not clip - but all the extra bit-depth headroom and extra processing power now takes much of that concern away.

One other thought - alot of drummers use e-kits and run it through sampled kits like Addictive Drums, EZ drummer, GetGoodDrums, Superior or similar. I don't know if that's an option, but if so the need for 8 mics, cables, (and stuff like compressors?) and 8 inputs might diminish. You're all in the box at that point. When I've recorded a real drum kit I've found it challenging. Lots of art in getting it to sound good imho.

Again, I'm just a hobbyist - take this all with a grain of salt, but that was been my thinking when shopping for an interface.

[cactus-head]

Hi,

Lets say you have an audio interface that connects to the computer via usb. The audio interface says it has 8 channels out; adat per se. There's also an optical in on the interface. If there aren't 8 physical inputs on your interface (mic inputs i'm assuming for drums), then you'll need an 8 input preamp that outputs to digital optical. The optical runs from the preamp to the audio interface.

If its true Adat you'll be able to assign 8 tracks in mixcraft each receiving input on a separate Adat channel from the audio interface. The USB plug is only one connection but can carry all of the inputs as separate virtual ports.. but again, you need to get 8 analog inputs into a digital interface and keep them separate. If there aren't 8 ports, you need an analog to digital preamp or converter with as many inputs as you need.

[jcameron99]

Hi,

Lets say you have an audio interface that connects to the computer via usb. The audio interface says it has 8 channels out; adat per se. There's also an optical in on the interface. If there aren't 8 physical inputs on your interface (mic inputs i'm assuming for drums), then you'll need an 8 input preamp that outputs to digital optical. The optical runs from the preamp to the audio interface.

If its true Adat you'll be able to assign 8 tracks in mixcraft each receiving input on a separate Adat channel from the audio interface. The USB plug is only one connection but can carry all of the inputs as separate virtual ports.. but again, you need to get 8 analog inputs into a digital interface and keep them separate. If there aren't 8 ports, you need an analog to digital preamp or converter with as many inputs as you need.

All of the multi-input interfaces I've seen have a pre-amp. Are you saying I would need another pre-amp? But I do understand I need to look for ADAT. I'm still trying to learn the jargon.

What's funny is that I've been playing since I was 10. I'm 64. I've been in a few bands that recorded. But that was all analog. Back then, it was all tracks and channels. A "Buss" is what carried the band. "Plug in" is what happened when you walked on stage. Things have changed in my absence.

[TrevsAudio]

And the simple answer, because I've also been playing since the age of ten and am now 73...

Get an audio interface for the number of 'tracks' you need. Let's say it's 8 tracks for drums (8 separate mics). An AI with 8 inputs would be sufficient. Those 8 inputs could be recorded to separate 'tracks' and then routed to a drum 'bus' in the DAW. This means you have individual control over the separate mic inputs (EQ, compression, volume, pan etc) - but you also have final control of the overall kit through the drum bus. ADAT is another piece of equipment that effectively extends the number of inputs you can use with an audio interface. So with my 2 input interface, I could add an 8 input ADAT for the extra mics/channels.

Now, the next thing to ask is 'do I NEED 8 mics to record a drum kit?' Unless you're in a professional studio environment, you could get away with a whole lot less. Look up a few YouTube videos on drum recording; great results can be had with 4 or even 2 mics.

And BTW, welcome to the Old Farts Club - there's a couple of us around on these forums

[Mark Bliss]

Point to be made:
"8 inputs" (in this example) may not mean 8 mic pre's. This is where you pay attention to specs or they can confuse. Some interfaces advertising "8 inputs" may be counting 2 line ins or similar.

In my experience ADAT refers to certain specific interfaces that use it to link two interfaces for channel expansion, as mentioned.
Likely of little relevance here.

Lastly I would agree with the point that without a treated room, lots of gear and experience micing up a drum set, 8 track live recording is ambitious.
In fact I'll opine that recording drums the old fashioned way can be a downright PITA time suck.
JMO.

[Rolling Estonian]

Another possible non useful input from a hobbyist, use EZDrummer2/3 no need to mess with a whole drumkit. Plus you don't have to deal with a drummer, they're a mess!

M

[Mark Bliss]

Another possible non useful input from a hobbyist, use EZDrummer2/3 no need to mess with a whole drumkit. Plus you don't have to deal with a drummer, they're a mess!

M

But you need the drummer for sound check while you mess with the kick mic for an hour (and are never really happy with it) right?

You know, I once had a drummer who not only set up his drums for recording but set up his own mic's professionally for the session?
(That there is a joke son!)

[cactus-head]

@OP,

As others have eluded to, unless you are setting up a complex and expensive studio where you are actually going to mic 8 individual drums and you need each on its own track, you can do with a lot less.

Unfortunately, the real technical aspects take some time, learning and work.

That being said, you can get around the miccing of the kit if you use MIDI. Thats a whole other area and there are tons of topics on the internet.

Just search for MIDI drum kit or MIDI drum triggers.

[jcameron99]

Thanks for the advise. I think I got what I needed.

It's my drum kit that stays in my music room with acoustic wall treatments. I play a mix of acoustic and electronics so I have 7 mics and 1 line from the sample pad. A few years ago I was tossing around whether to go MIDI or stay acoustic. Long story short, I bought a set of drum mics. This may end up being an exercise in futility, but it's my futility and I like it.

I'm glad to see there are other old farts out there.

Thanks again,
Jim

[Mark Bliss]

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[cactus-head]

Oh, ok you already have the mics etc. Basically if you have a way to get the eight mics into your audio interface, and the audio interface has 8 buses, you're good. That's why I mention digital. I mentioned the pre-amp because depending on the computer audio interface, it may not have a preamp built into the optical input. For my setup, I would do as I described - 8 mics into a mixer or an adat board - then optical out into my audio interface - because my audio interface doesn't have 8 physical mic inputs - but accepts multi-channel input via optical.

8 Mics ---> Mixer or other 8 input analog to digital converter ----> Audio Interface via Optical ----> Computer Via USB ----> 8 Audio buses in Mixcraft