USB microphones

[Haopengyou]

I am going to be recording a group of children singing. I hope to make a short dvd to share with several groups.

I would like to assemble a small bag of equipment, that I can take along with me. I will be traveling through China to make these recordings.

The ideal situation would be to connect my video cam to my notebook through the firewire port, connect 4 or 5 usb microphones to the same computer and use software on the notebook to do the mixing. It would be nice to be able to initially save 4 or 5 audio tracks with the video, then when I return I can take the time to mix, edit, etc.

Is this possible/reasonable?

[edDV]

Not likely to work. Laptops deal with one audio import at a time.

What is your budget?

Check this thread for some multi-track recording ideas. I'll look around.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/46119-6-multitrack-interface-laptop-firewire

The Motu products look good if you can afford them. They input from standard mics (balanced/unbalanced) and can record to multi-track. Check with them for software required.
http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/MOTU

[Haopengyou]

Thanks! Because I am at the "playing/learning" state my budget is at the "real cheap" stage. What if I use a device like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000TU44G2?smid=A1L4LS2KNDBWYV&tag=shopzilla_rev_1284-20&linkCode=asn to record the people singing and then connect a microphone to the mic input on the back of the notebook - and use that as a separate track? I want at least to be able to keep the narrator track separate from the singing/performing track. Can I get audacity to recognize the usb audio input as one track and the narrator from the mic input as a separate track?

For a big picture question...you are saying that it is not possible to define 4 usb mics as 4 separate inputs and then have an audio program assign them different tracks? If I have two of these podcast studio mixers would i be able to record the input from each of them as a separate track?

[Bjs]

Yamaha MW12C 12 Channel USB Mixer > $300.00 us

http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product__-1_10052_10002_-49982544?Affi...zilla-_-176827

As for the question of video + multi audio channel recordings ... you may want to do them separately and mix later ... ie, camera dose the video, while laptop handles the audio.

Next question is software which can handle video + multi channel audio mixing

[edDV]

Thanks! Because I am at the "playing/learning" state my budget is at the "real cheap" stage. What if I use a device like this: ... ?

There are many mixers that mix many mics down to one stereo pair but what you requested is known as multi-track recording where each mic is recorded to a separate track. This allows separate equalizing and mix down later in post. The latter is how pros do it and is highly recommended.

The Motu's @ ~$800 represent extreme value for this type of recording but I'd bet less expensive models are out there. If this is a special project, you will be very happy you have separate tracks later so you can take time for the mixdown or do different versions.

At the other extreme you have simple battery powered mixers that mix several mics down to two tracks.
http://www.videodirect.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CAM3
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VQA2Q0?smid=A29D7AF0INAGZA&tag=shopzilla_rev_1117-20&linkCode=asn

If battery power isn't a requirement, the Behringer UB802 Eurorack is low cost.
http://www.etronics.com/p-79759-behringer-ub802-behringer-ub802-eurorack-8-input-mixer...ame=GoogleBase