New to recording, and I have some questions.

[drummer914]

I would like to start making some fairly decent recordings with my set and a few musician friends, nothing top of the line professional, but not bottom feeder junk either. I am looking at the Mackie 1202-VLZ3 mixer and the CAD Pro-7 7 piece mic set for my drums (it comes with clips which is a plus). Shure mics are too expensive even with their really good reputation. Are these good decisions? I also need to know what kind of cables to buy... there are a lot of choices with a lot of varying price ranges. What should I get? I would like to keep my total under $550 if possible. The mixer and the CAD set with a kick mic stand is already about $450 with a rebate. I only need to buy 5 or 6 cables. Thanks!

[jbsg02]

I'd look at an interface like a firepod that will let you record onto seperate tracks if I was you

[somexone75]

Here's what I'd do it I were you

For an affordable as close to studio sound that you can get in home...

SM57 on snare (the god of snare mics)
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Shure-SM57-Instrument-Vocal-Mic-100038239-i1126420.gc

2 MXL 603's as overhead to grab the cyms and toms (best overhead condensers for in home; only sold on ebay) and a two channel or two single channel mic preamps to run the condensers (Nady and Berhinger are not the greatest, you get what you pay for)
http://cgi.ebay.com/STEREO-PAIR-MXL-MARSHALL-603-603S-CONDENSER-MICROPHONES_W0QQitemZ120260466928QQihZ002QQcategor yZ41466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and a Sennheiser evolution e902 Dynamic Kick Drum Mic
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Sennheiser-evolution-e902-Dynamic-Kick-Drum-Microphone-270859-i1126775.gc

Or if you want to start cheap and buy your way up later; which can be costly

CAD Pro-4 Drum Mic
http://www.guitarcenter.com/CAD-Pro-4-Drum-Microphone-Pack-271262-i1126880.gc

2 MXL 603's as overheads (same as above; still need a preamp)
http://cgi.ebay.com/STEREO-PAIR-MXL-MARSHALL-603-603S-CONDENSER-MICROPHONES_W0QQitemZ120260466928QQihZ002QQcategor yZ41466QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

And for your audio capture gear I'd go multi-track (records each mic seperatly) so you can master out a nice sound and get a good dynamic balance. If you are going to go multi track make sure it records each channel separately and can record enough channels simultaneous.

I personally use the Lexicon Omega
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Lexicon-Omega-Desktop-Recording-Studio-102967601-i1126257.gc

I left this really general, so if you do want to pursuit this you can go to this site to get the knowledge you need to find what would work best. http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/

Best of luck to you

P.S. Make sure you have the money, because it takes a lot more than you would imagine.

Quick tip on cables...

You mics will only sound as good as your cables, You can have the best mic in the world, but if you put a shotty brand of cable on it it will sound shotty.

Monster and Mogami are the best, but are expensive so if you want some fairly nice cables with a lifetime warranty I would recommend C.B.I.

Just do some research before you buy.

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

It would be easier to get hold of some DAW software (I use Logic, but Cubase and Sonar are the typical PC ones, Logic only runs on Macs) and a firewire/USB interface. I recommend the PreSonus Firepod. Get that instead of a desk and it'll allow for multiple inputs into the DAW software - there is a perfectly good mixing console on the software. Buy the best microphones you can afford.