mics and drums?

hi guys and gals.....ive been playing drums for 30 years. Most of the groups i have played for have always had theyre own hookups for mics. i would use my 7 piece kit and mics and the rest was always there. now with a different group and playing towards 300-500 people. my question is what are you all using as a mixer? id like to have all my own stuff with one line to the main board so i can adjust as i see necessary. id like to stay small as possible to help with extra work of loading a nd unloading the stuff. I was looking toward a 8 channel mixer? maybe rack mounted? any suggestions and info on what is being used and reliable would be appreciated. thanks:thu:

The soundguy up front will want to mix the drums individually. Since he's in the audience and in control of FOH, he's in a much better position to mix than you are. No offense but mixing on stage is a very difficult art to get right because you'll never hear what the audience is hearing, and that is key.

mparsons has a good point about the FOH guy wanting to mix, but it's possible you'd find agreeable sound guys. In that case, a Mackie 1604-VLZ would do the trick for you. That's a little bigger than you wanted (16 channels), but it has everything you need including aux sends, control room sends, etc.

Edit: Just saw the 1202-VLZ on their website. If you don't mind using quarter inch mic cables on a couple channels you could use that and save some space.

the reason for mixing myself is that right now our sound is all done on stage. they are using a 24 chanel board thats about 10 feet away. This being said i also have the means to use a headphone to hear exactly what is coming out the front, so i probably have a better opinion of the sound compared to anyone on stage anyway. i might add that i am currently playing behind glass. thanks for the input....................

I setting up a home studio right now and am weighing many options. I can't help much with the mixer but I will recommend adding a compressor.

Gates are more important than compressors, and if you don't know how to use a compressor you'll be doing way more bad than good. Typically when I mix I don't use a compressor on drums anyhow, although usually that's simply a matter of the vocals taking up all my compressor channels.

im currently using shure mics, i believe its a sm94 on bass drum, sm57 on snare and toms. currently thinking of buying a couple of 4 piece shure mic kits to make a better sound. also thinking of some overheads for the cymbals. im not what you call a power player, ive learned to get a better sound and tone through years of playing and not have to beat the hell out of the kit, but i like to be heard. the rest of the system is kind of a mix of everything. i know there is a 18 boxed sub on stage and to tower speakers up front with two 15s and a horn in each. none of the stuff is what i call top notch just average.......

I always had a problem with FOH guys having a different view on how my drums should sound in the mix compared to how I and my bandmates thought they should sound. I have had drummer friends come to me between breaks and say they could hardly hear my drums or they could only hear the snare/kick but any other component was lost or turned down in the mix. When I confronted the sound guy, he would say things like "it sounds fine to me" or I think the drums should be lower than the guitars in the mix anyhow. So I think some form of control over the sound that reaches the audience would be nice. As your ideas might not be the same as your soundguy.