Recording Sets to laptop

[mzkfrsh]

I'm trying to record a live set from my dj setup to my laptop. I bought an rca to 1/8 connection. I have 2 cdj 400's and a djm 400 and serato scratch live. There are two outputs from the master out that i can possibly do. One of them is currently taken because i have them connected to a pair of m-audio studio monitors. When i connect the other possible rca spots to my laptop and try to record it on audacity while having serato open, the sound recorded is very poor. It sounds very distorted and as if the levels are too high because the bass is too much and same with the vocals. Overall it just sounds terrible. Is there something i'm doing wrong?

[kozikowski]

<<<Is there something i'm doing wrong?>>>

Yes. You're plugging your powerful, high-level sound equipment into the delicate, low-level microphone input of your laptop.

There are five conventional ways to solve this

--look for the Line-In connection and pray you have one. I think Lenovo Laptops do.
--Look for settings that allow your laptop to switch between Line-In and Mic-In. A number of laptops do this.
--Use a large, Deskside PC machine. Those sound cards tend to have all the connections.
--Borrow somebody's Mac. Almost all have a very good quality Line-In.
--Buy a USB sound device that features enough connections to do the show.

Koz

[mzkfrsh]

<<<Is there something i'm doing wrong?>>>

Yes. You're plugging your powerful, high-level sound equipment into the delicate, low-level microphone input of your laptop.

There are five conventional ways to solve this

--look for the Line-In connection and pray you have one. I think Lenovo Laptops do.
--Look for settings that allow your laptop to switch between Line-In and Mic-In. A number of laptops do this.
--Use a large, Deskside PC machine. Those sound cards tend to have all the connections.
--Borrow somebody's Mac. Almost all have a very good quality Line-In.
--Buy a USB sound device that features enough connections to do the show.

Koz

So the line-in isn't the same as the mic input?

[kozikowski]

Line-In is stereo and expecting an audio signal roughly a thousand times louder than a microphone. Also the microphone input is mono. It may appear on both left and right, but it's only one signal -- two track mono.

Koz