My friends and I are starting to get into recording our music. We don’t want to spend all of the time with Pro Tools, and are thinking of using an 8-track. The only problem is that my drumset has 6 drums that need to be miked, and i need 2 more for the cymbals which already takes up all 8 mic plugins for the 8-track. What would be the best way to mic my set using less mics? Should I just put a nice condenser over the top of my set, or can I get away with using around 4 or so mics?

You could try a single overhead, but I would suggest adding a bass drum mike as well. Another alternative, if you have the microphones to do it, is to use a submixer that has enough channels to allow you to mike your entire kit, and then just run a stereo out to the 8-track.

What kind of sub-mixer would you recommend? I’m pretty much clueless right now. Would you mind linking me please?

Getting back to the mike setup, this is one of the toughest questions in recording.
Another way to do it is to go with three or four mikes, using two overheads and one or two bass drum mikes.
A classic setup is two stereo condenser overhead microphones. Pick a point about 18 inches out from the drummers head. Then place the mikes two-three feet apart from that point, pointing slightly outward. The mikes should be a foot from the closest drum.  The more outward facing the mikes are the more the stereo imaging will tend to put the snare in the middle and the toms panning left and right. You can then experiment with placing the mikes further or closer apart.
Sound pressure levels on drums are extremely high, especially kicks. Usually dynamic mikes are used for kick drums (you can use dynamics for the whole kit, too). Often there is one floor mic angled up toward the front head of the bass drum. Sometimes it’s coupled with a mike angled down toward the beater. The front mike is put out of phase due to the contradictory angles. Or sometimes, one mike is put in side the head, when there is a port on the front head.

Good articles here

on the Heil Microphone site.

And, here’s a downloadable PDF from Shure. http://www.shure.com/idc/groups/.../us_pro_mic_techniques_drums_ea.pdf

There are two methods that seem to work well for a lot of drummers and engineers. Both use minimal mic setups, I suggest you research them both and see what works best for you.

1: The Glyn Johns Method
2: Recorderman Drum Mic Setup

Instead of close miking all of your drums and creating your stereo image in your mixing, Mic placement will do most of that with these 2 methods. You’ll just need to do some basic R/L panning.

Keep Drumming!!!!