Audacity Forum

Ok first of all i am new to the audacity program and this forum. Here is my problem. I am trying to record services at my church using my laptop that is connected to the mixer board. When i connect the two and try recording, i do get a recording but it is faint and there is a very bad buzzing or humming. ok this is the equipment i am using

Laptop: Dell Inspiron 1545 windows 7 home premium 64-bit operating system IDT High def audio codec ( I am using the Line in/Mic input on the front of the laptop

Mixer: 24 channel behringer approx 10 yrs old (I connect my laptop to the mixer by using RCA to 3.5 mm cable, i connect the red and white to the tape out section, i have also tried main outputs and it did the same, and i plug the 3.5mm in to the front of the laptop.

I would really appreciate any help at all as soon as possible. Thanks very much.

Hi Tim, it's a really bad idea to post your e-mail address on a public forum as spammers use programs to trawl the internet looking for e-mail addresses. I've edited your post to make your address a little less obvious to such programs.

Has this set up ever worked?
Does the microphone work?
Does the mixing desk work?
Does the laptop record from other sources?

steve wrote:Hi Tim, it's a really bad idea to post your e-mail address on a public forum as spammers use programs to trawl the internet looking for e-mail addresses. I've edited your post to make your address a little less obvious to such programs.

Has this set up ever worked?
Does the microphone work?
Does the mixing desk work?
Does the laptop record from other sources?

Thanks steve, i deleted my email. This is the very first time ive tried this whole thing, i went to youtube and found a vid about how to connect the laptop to the mixer so i could use audacity to record the services at my church. when i connected all of this i did get a recording but it was low in volume and had extreme buzzing. i was using a cordless mic and a lapel mic for testing, i also tested the recording with the drums and other instruments on the stage and had the same results. I also have an electric drum kit at home, i connected that to my line in also to try and record and had the same results. so i know it isnt the mixer board doing it because my drum kit also did this. I had a friend tell me that i should try a sheilded RCA cables, because i could be getting a grounding problem or somthing. I also tried a diffrent recording software other than audacity and it still buzzed. Im at a lost hope you can help me. Thanks

timwaggoner wrote:I also have an electric drum kit at home, i connected that to my line in also to try and record and had the same results. so i know it isnt the mixer board

That does not say that the problem is not the mixer board end. It does say that there's probably a problem on the computer end, but at this stage there could be problems at both ends for all we know, so it's a good idea to test that you are getting a good signal into the mixer board, which you can do easily by plugging headphones into the mixer board.

The problem could also be the connecting leads between the desk and the computer.

On to the computer end.
Setting up the computer to record from a mixing desk is very much like setting up the computer to record from a cassette or CD player. You can find info about this here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Trans ... uter_or_CD

Also have a look at this tutorial: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... h_Services

timwaggoner wrote:I had a friend tell me that i should try a sheilded RCA cables,

Yes that's correct, the audio cables must all be shielded cables to avoid picking up hum and other interference.