Audacity Forum

Hi my mixer (Stanton M.304) has RCA record outs, do I just connect this to my line in on my laptop? Thanks

If you have a Stereo Line-In. Most Windows laptops don't. Many Windows laptops have Mic-In which is mono, super sensitive and easily damaged. If you can't switch your laptop to Stereo Line-In (see instructions) or you don't have a "real " Line-In (usually blue), you may need an adapter sound card like the UCA202.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/UCA202.jpg

Koz

Sorry for late reply, I had to travel overseas for a medical emergency (not my emergency) My laptop mixer shows all microphone selections as two channel 16 bit inputs with different Hz options from 44100-192000Hz. Am I then able to record straight though this input? Thanks

It's possible. Do you have a normal microphone connection -- usually pink? My machines have the ability to "fake" a stereo microphone by splitting the mono microphone signal into two and presenting it to the system that way. That still doesn't mean the system will accept a high-level, stereo audio signal.

Sometimes we can tell if you give us the model number of the computer.

Give it a shot. if your shows are consistently too loud and buzzy/crunchy and you can't turn down the volume controls far enough, then you probably don't have a real line-in stereo connection. It's a dead giveaway if the "right" channel of the show is missing -- like all the brass instruments are gone from the orchestra. That's one of the symptoms of crossing the connectors wrong.

You should start with 16-bit, Stereo, 44100. That's the sound specification for Audio CDs and it's dead common. Set up Audacity for that as well. You can get fancy later, but this will prove whether or not it's going to work.

Koz