Analog Inputs

How Many Analog Inputs Do You Need?

The first step in selecting a soundcard for your home recording studio is deciding how many inputs you need. Everyone's needs are different. You may need 20 or more simultaneous inputs to record the entire band live. You may need 8 for the drumset and then overdub the rest of the band. You may be content with 2 if you are recording drums in another studio or using samples for your timekeeping needs.

You will need an analog input for each track you plan on recording at the same time. For example, let's say you wanted to use a mic on the snare drum, a mic on the kick drum, and a pair of overheads. You would need 4 analog inputs. You will be able to individually process the 4 tracks in any way that you wish.

If you wanted to record kick, snare, stereo overheads, tom1, tom2, tom3, and a room mic you would need 8 simulatenous analog inputs.

Note: You COULD send all of these mics to a mixer and combine them to a stereo pair to send to your audio interface, but you would lose the ability to adjust individual elements. You would only be able to process the "submix" of the drums which would be on one stereo track.

If you plan on recording drums, I highly recommend that you snag at least an 8 channel soundcard. I don't always record drums with 8 mics (some projects have used just 2 while some have used 15). If you are confident that you won't be recording any drums or any other instrument requiring lots of mics at the same time then go with less channels. You'll save quite a bit of money.

Note: As you'll see later in the Home Recording Soundcard Wizard, many audio interfaces allow you to insert digital inputs into the soundcard. You'll read more about this later in the soundcard wizard.