Recording Audio from an External Mixer to my Laptop

Special Interest Groups Recording Techniques
1

Hi

I want to record live music of our musical band

From the Band Mixer to the Mic. input of my Laptop using Audacity

Is this a realistic possibily ?
?
and will the quality of this recording will be good enoght

I made a test and tried to record from other computer CD output to my Laptop

using Audacity

and the quality wasn’t good at all

Thanks

David

2

Can we suspect you’re in Windows? Many Windows laptops don’t connect to stereo mixers very well. I use a Behringer UCA202 and that has worked well for me.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/peaveyUCA202Lenovo.jpg

Other people make USB interfaces.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recommended_sound_devices

You should be careful not to buy an interface such as the StarTech ICUSBAUDIO. That has a Mic-In and won’t work any better than your laptop by itself did.

Koz

3

Hi

My LapTop is in Windows XP

Is that a problem?

Do you think there is a solution for that without using any other instruments?

Thanks

David

4

No. Modern laptops are designed for communications and corporate conferencing. That usually means eliminating the stereo Line-In in favor of a mono Mic-In.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/PCHeadset.jpg

That’s how those two connectors are supposed to work.

Mic-In is mono, not stereo and overloads very easily creating harsh, crunchy audio and the damage is permanent.

Some laptops have all three connections and some can convert one connection between Stereo Line-In and Mono Mic-In. Consult your instructions. For most, an adapter is a good way to go.

Koz