Recording to a laptop? wtf?!

Bri

Seeing as I have no desktop or 1210s here with me at present, I'm trying my hand at recording from CDJs into my laptop (via a mixer obviously!). Problem is it's not picking it up properly. I'm using Audacity (thanks PlazTT) and a gold-plated double-phono to microphone jack (small size)...all fits perfectly. The cable isn't really expensive but I didn't find it on the street either!

All I get is little/nothing reading on the inputs. Sometimes (intermittently) I get a really harsh reading on the microphone setting...but the music is barely audible behind the white noise.

I have the main output playing into a hifi so it's working. I have the booth turned up 3/4 way (already adjusted) and all cables are fully clicked in. Surely using a double-to-single shouldn't make the sound quality drop amazingly.

Any ideas? I'm only used to recording into an MD deck or a full PC with a decent soundcard, and I havn't done that for years.

Thanks in advance.

spyro_2001ie

Whatever software your using check what audio device its setup to record from and check all the settings are ok ie. stereo,4400khz ect. Also check your Line in in Sounds and Audio in your control panel.

I had a similar problem recently with an Amp, when in the Phono sockets it sounded ****,e, so i move it to the Cd ones and that fixed it, laptops for the most part don't have great sound cards, so the mic input of your comp could be crappy.

Good luck

Bri

Thanks for the help. Yeah I figured we were looking at a hardware deficiency here! Oh well I'll try tweek it and do it properly later.

Cheers.

Dub_Ster

have ya thaught about buying a protools m box there a couople of hundred quid but dead handy

Bri

Ouch; they're seriously expensive. I've looked into some USB peripherals (sp?) before but really they're outa my budget, and I'm quite happy to use what I have (once it works!)

Thanks though.

Dub_Ster

Bri wrote:

Ouch; they're seriously expensive. I've looked into some USB peripherals (sp?) before but really they're outa my budget, and I'm quite happy to use what I have (once it works!)

Thanks though.

O i do realise there quite a sustaniol investment but for 580 eruos u get that and 1500 euros of plugins .. just an idea that was all ...

Bri

Dub_Ster wrote:

O i do realise there quite a sustaniol investment but for 580 eruos u get that and 1500 euros of plugins .. just an idea that was all ...

And much appreciated. Something to save up for I guess!

tman

hmmm... i'm guessing that your mic input sucks ass...
the volume of mic inputs are a hell of a lot higher than a line in (which you should be using but doubtfully have on a laptop)
having it up at 3/4 is way to loud afair... you should have recording and mic levels both set at about 1/5 iirc

Bri

Right so thanks for the pointers. It's so frustrating that I don't have an expandable computer around me! But tbh it's just a way to de-stress during exams at present so I'm probably better off biding my time.

Thanks though.

2tel1

Just adjust your mic levels. Go to properties in volume control and select mic. Thats all that could be wrong. Also try adjusting the mic level in the programme you are using.

Bri

2tel1 wrote:

Just adjust your mic levels. Go to properties in volume control and select mic. Thats all that could be wrong. Also try adjusting the mic level in the programme you are using.

Done all of the above already. Cheers.