Hello all… I am a new podcaster and wanted some suggestions on my setup. I am using a Samson C01 mic, Behringer UB802 mixer which connects to a iMic and into the USB port of my new HP laptop. I have the slider on the iMic pushed over to Mic not the Input. Is that correct? When I slide it over to Input, my microphone levels go way down. Also, I only got the iMic because someone else I know was using it so I figured I needed it to connect the mixer to my laptop as well. Is there anything I should change about this set up?
Does your laptop have a Line-In in addition to the Mic-In connection? If it does I would be going directly from the mixer to the Line-In and eliminate the iMic. If you do need to have the iMic in service and start to have quality of sound or noise issues, that’s the first place to look.
Koz
I have a microphone input and two headphone inputs on my laptop. I dont see a line input.
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If you’re on a PC, that’s not unusual. There are ways to manage Line Level audio and reduce it to microphone level, but that only works for people who know how to use the stuff in the parts bins at Radio Shack and can solder. That also has the disadvantage of converting the audio level twice and adding noise at each step. All that and Mic-In tends to be only mono.
Let’s assume you don’t and can’t. Then you’re stuck with getting the USB audio services to work. There was a posting a while back of someone who put an externally powered USB2 hub between the iMic and the computer. The iMic gets its clean power from the wall plate then instead of borrowing noisy power from the computer USB system.
The hubs that use power from the computer don’t work because that just makes the problem worse.
There are laptop PCs out there that have Line-In connections. I think one of the new IBM/Lenovo lines of machines can do that.
If you know anybody with almost any Mac except for that new thin one, you might want to try this with them. I record very high quality live voice tracks with a system similar to yours, except I’m plugged into a Mac.
Practically all Deskside PCs have Line-In in addition to all the other inputs and outputs because they have much more room to play with. Even at that, tho, they cram a lot of connectors in a small space. I had to shop for thin audio cables to fit it all into my deskside PC.
I’m tri-lingual. I use Audacity on all three types of computer.
Koz