For what you're recording "4 tracks" seems too small. You usually need at least 5 tracks for drums alone. So you'll need a sound card that does 8IN for a 4 piece band. I like the Echo stuff. WWW.ECHOAUDIO.COM. There's a few options there. RME,CardD, or Maudio are also popular selections. A lot of people seem to be having problems with the MOTU stuff (WWW.MOTU.COM).

I inputs cvould be OK if multi-tracking.

First pass record bass (1 input) and drums (3 inpouts - BD, and stereo OH's).

Subesquent passes for guitars and vox. I have an 8 input interface, but rarely use more than4 channels at a time, more often than not one or 2 ....

You could get by with a 2 channel interface, but would need to pre-mix the drums if using more than 2 mics.

Suggest you read some basic recording books or mags.

geoff

Thanks for all of your replies. I just ordered an MAudio Delta 44. It has 4 inputs. I figure I can record the bass and both guitars then the drums. Then vocals. I'm doing this for my kids band. They want to cut a CD and I want to record a band and mix.

Usual thing would be the drums *first*. Otherwise timing is likely to be too loose.

geoff

If your going to record guitars and vox first, make sure you record them to a click track. Also plan on rerecording the guitars and vox after you get the drums in. Treat all of the original tracks as scratches. The reason for this is because as Geoff pointed out, The drums are supposed to lead the timing with the other instruments following the drummers rhythm. By rerecording the guitars you'll end up with better interplay between the instruments. You may wish to incorporate a bass of some sort into this as well to fill out the sound.
Steve S

Rich, I also have a Delta 44 and though most of my projects are "one musician at a time", there are times when I want more bodies in the studio at the same time. "Cold" is exactly correct when stating that any players knocking off tracks to a click track BEFORE the drummer should be done exclusively for the drummers benefit (reference tracks). Even if you have a drummer who's a rhythm machine, the song will sound mushy if you keep tracks recorded before the drummer. Then try to get a good mix on the drums. For basic stuff like this, I'll use 2 small Behringer mixers (cheap-cheap-cheap), then mic and track the drums as follows: Kick, snare,and at the very least, 2 stereo overheads. Now you have the start of a song. Scrap everything except maybe a reference vocal. Put a bass down and make the player pay attention to the kick drum. Then add the guitars, etc. Tell the drummer not to get too freaked out about "feel" as long as his/her parts are staying relatively in the pocket. All subsequent players will have to play to the drummers new track.

Lastly, if this is an on-going ambition, get yourself a bigger D/A box with 8 channels. You'll cough up a few more hundred bucks, but have way more flexibility in the future. I'm currently living that same regret.

Good luck, Larry

Larryo - I have great success *without* miking the snare - just do a bit more fiddling with the overheads to get the balance right (i'm currently in favour of XY above the drummer). A that way you totally eliminate phase problems between the snare mic and OHs.

geoff

You guys are great. Thanks for your help. Actually I am a musician and have recorded in studios,(ages ago when everything was analog.) We always layed down the bass and drums, then rythm lead and vocals. The problem with my kid's band's drummer is his tempo does fluctuate. The guitar players are the ones who have a good sense of timing. So I'll take your suggestions and lay down a guitar scratch track and if I have to there's always cut and paste right?

Now is as good a time as any to get your kid's drummer used to working with a click track.Be patient, let him get used to it, and try not to cut and paste your drums too hard. Cutting and pasting drums can destroy the feel of a take, so be careful, also be aware of cymbal decay if you do cut and paste.
Steve S

There is nothing wrong with a drummers tempo flucuating - as long as that is a purposeful musical decision ! IMHO click-tracks are almost as evil as drum machines, except where 'necessary' ;-)

A comptent drummer will have his/her own built-in click track, to be applied where desired.

geoff

While personally I avoid using click tracks for drummers whenever I can, As I agree with you in that they can be evil, they also have many benefits. The main one being for songs in which there is guitar/bass scratch tracks that the drummer is going to play to. The click becomes a nescessitty as a common timing reference for all of the musicians. Same if the song has drum breaks, or empty bars, or if the project had loops or midi parts already composed. Even my most competant studio drummer, who hated playing to a click more than anyone else I've ever met, now requests one more often than not. It just makes his life easier, and he's learned to play around it to create a more natural feel. Clicks can be "softened" by only having a click on whole notes rather than eighths or quarters, this allows for more fluctuation.
One last point about clicks, Many bands, even experienced ones, find themselves playing at a faster tempo than they intended once they're in the studio. It's sort of the same thing for big live shows, once the adrenalin kiks in, everything speeds up. This is okay for live shows, not so good in the studio. I've had many bands either come back in and scratch over tempo drums and rerecord them with a click or have to live with them being too fast because of budget constraints. In the end just about everything is a compromise.
Steve S

The thing to do is get a drummer that can keep tempo. That's the most important thing of a band. The drums and bass are suppose to be the backbone right? Maybe it would be better to record several measures of the drummer playing a beat. Take the best measures where his timing was good, and create some loops and assemble them in ACID or Vegas, then record the rest of the band. It's never a good thing to push the horse before the carriage in my opinion. You'll probably learn that though, after you start editing and your head starts to throb because nothing works, no matter how much slicing, dicing and timestretching you do.