Question about mixers in general

[Amnesic Ostrich]

I've been searching around for the answer, but it seems hard to find on the internet.
Is it normal for mixers to connect to a computer AND import all the tracks you record into individual tracks on the computer? What I want is to record with several microphones at once, and be able to adjust the individual sound levels (or other things) before the final product.
For example if you need to change the snare volume or if you have recorded an entire band at the same time, and still wanna be able to manage the tracks without merging it all to one final mix in one recording, how does this work? Is this what USB mixers do? Isn't this a normal way of recording and mastering/mixing?

[stainless]

this all depends on not only the mixer but your DAW (interface)

can your DAW accept multiple inputs simultaneously?

as an example- I had a Tascam MK-III 16 x 8 mixer, no USB but each of the 16 channels had direct outs or I could assign the 4 pairs of stereo buss, which at the time I routed to my Digi 001, over time I added a Presonus Digimax with ADAT optical out and I could direct output from the board all 16 tracks, or use the busses (depending on how I patched things)

I "graduated" to a Control 24 digital control surface 16 I/O with 24 digital (mixable) channels. It was Ethernet. I still had to patch (signal route) from the board to the DAW (now an 002R)

Now I'm using a Euphonix MC Control and Mix (also Ethernet) but it is simply a control surface- the actual audio does not flow through it, but I can stack units and ultimately get 52 channels (why I'd need to do that... I'm unsure)   my biggest session to date has been34 tracks, and once drums were set, the individual drum tracks are are hidden and I only use aux busses, so the 24 track tune ended up being 7 stereo busses and a master fader -

You haven't told us what interface you're using, so this alone may limit how many tracks you can record at a single "take"-

however, I believe 'most" USB mixers are capable of mixing what ever the declared channel count is (8-16-24) once they're recorded

[Amnesic Ostrich]

Thanks for the reply!

I was asking because I'm searching for a mixer/recorder that will get me what I need. After a chat with a guy at the local music store, he recommended Zoom R16 which seems just perfect for recording drums and other instruments, and it's cheap and good. It works with USB as well, and Cubase is included.

What I've been using so far is a quite painful method. I'm borrowing a cheap Behringer mixer (Eurorack UB1002) with 2 XLR inputs, rest is jack. The jack inputs appear to be much lower in volume and quality, might be because of the mixer. The only way to get it to the computer is by either going from the right or left output channel of the mixer, plug it into my Line 6 GX audio interface which only has 1 jack input. I tried with FX send (from the mixer) and hoped it would be better, but it's the same. And if I recorded with a friend and he appeared to be too loud, we can't turn his volume down after recording. This got very difficult, as we almost had to mistreat my speakers to monitor his sound loud enough when we turned him down, and I didn't get him very well through my headphones as well. But it's just the temporary mixer's limits.

When I most likely get the R16, it will definitely have enough channels and since it has USB I can even get.. stereo! I think I see now how mixers without USB can send several tracks out, but it can't be done through my Line 6 GX interface. I would then have to buy a mixer AND an interface, instead of just a mixer (or formally called recorder in the R16 case) with USB. It would be more expensive that way I imagine, and less handy for me. I think R16 sounds like the best option for me, for 3-4 drum mics, along with 1 or 2 other instruments, for many years following now.

Any experiences with Zoom R16? http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/r16/

[stainless]

8 in with a stereo out should adequate- I didn't tread through the entire text, so if there's not a separate headphone out (for moritors) and  headphones for those recording, you'd just have to use the stereo out

it looks like you'll be limited to 16 tracks of playback, but in most cases that will not be an issue-

I have a Zoom H4 which is a handheld that does 2 tracks simultaneous and up to 4 tracks, which can be transfered (again via USB)  I use it mainly for live /field work- it's built well, so I'd think the R16 should be  a reliable unit!

Let us know if you get it nad what you think

[Amnesic Ostrich]

Hey, I've received my R16 recorder, and I'll just start by saying that I love it.

At first there seemed to be a weird setting so that it didn't actually show the menus accordingly to the instruction manual. We brought over to the shop where we had bought it, and asked them what was wrong. But then, as any mixer would, it started behaving exactly the way it was supposed to when the masters looked over it. So now it's working amazingly well. If you're recording near the PC, it's quite handy to use it as an audio interface, and it imports the channels just the way I wanted. It works JUST as well without the computer. I plugged my guitar right into it too, and to my amazement it sounded veeery much better than the Line6 GX interface I had usually used for guitar recordings. It has built in guitar effects (and bass, and other effects) and it sounds professional, much more open and clear than the GX. It also lets you mix your recordings directly on the R16 when you're not using it as an interface if you feel like doing that. It also has metronome and a tuner in it.

The only thing I can think of is that there is only one headphone output. I wonder if there's a way to use more than 1 headphone somehow, at a time, IF I'll need that in the near future. Maybe the left and right monitor outputs? Hmm yeah I suppose.
It's probably worth more than the money you must pay for it, so I'm very happy with it.

I bought 4 good drum mics. 2 "Røde NT5" as overheads, one shure SM57 for snare, and one shure Beta 52A for bass drum. These mics are supposed to be the professional standard, sort of. And they sound very nice!

The guy who sold this recorder said that if you want the same from a "mixer", you might have to pay 3 times as much. So if someone stumbles upon this one day, they might consider buying a recorder intstead of a mixer

[stainless]

sounds great!  (especially when it does what you need it to)

You could get a a headphone amp (Rolls, Presonus, etc) and use the headphone output to the headphone amp- It may be a little noisy (hiss0 because it's cgoing through 2 stages of gain, but if you adjust the headphone output of the R16 down and let the headphone amp do most of the gain it should be useable!

so post some recording!