Want record an electric guitar track to accompany a mp3 a friend sent me but am stymied.
The guitar is plugged into a guitar amplifier. I’m running the sound through a 1/4" headphones out jack; I have a Rode smartLav+ microphone taped to the phones to record the guitar. I have the microphone jack plugged into my Dell Inspiron but I can’t record. I’ve tried the Windows Microphone In and Line In: nothing.
I’ve been able to use this gerryrigged system successfully with my iPhone to make short videos, but here I want to add a track to an existing recording & ship it back to my friend. Do I need some sort of pre-amp or special microphone to make this go? Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Does your computer have a combination microphone/headphone jack, or are they separate? That microphone has a TRRS plug so it should work with a combo-jack but you’d need an adapter if you have a separate mic input.
I’ve tried the Windows Microphone In and Line In: nothing.
If it’s a laptop with a built-in microphone you’ll need to select the external microphone input. And it not show-up until a mic is plugged-in properly.
If everything is connected properly, there are some Windows Privacy settings that can disable the microphone.
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I have a Rode smartLav+ microphone taped to the phones to record the guitar.
OK… But a better option is a USB interface with a direct guitar/instrument input. The [u]Behringer UGC102[/u] is popular and relatively inexpensive.
Pros often record direct or with a microphone in front of a guitar amplifier, but of course you need an amplifier that you “like” and a reasonably good microphone.
Your mic problem seems very likely due to the wiring.
Note how it has a 4 pole 3.5mm jack.
These are designed for smartphones and not computers and laptops that use the 3 pole version.
(Note that some laptops will will be OK with the 4 pole version, but not many).
You will need an adapter cable as DVDdoug wrote.
Note also how the “blurb” only mentions smartphones and not computers.
BTW, I have a similar BeyerDynamic mic and same story, smartphones only unless an adapter is used.
Hope you’re still out there - my audio adapter converter finally arrived. So I plugged it in and … the lavalier is not recording anything either in Line In or Mic In. However, while I was gone I see you posted about the Dell Inspiron laptop and in fact mine DOES NOT have separate jacks for headphones and microphone; it’s just a SINGLE JACK. When I plug in, I get a dropdown with several options including Line In, Mic In, Headphones, etc.
while I was gone I see you posted about the Dell Inspiron laptop and in fact mine DOES NOT have separate jacks for headphones and microphone; it’s just a SINGLE JACK.
So how does that alter the solution?
It seems that your Dell has the multi input jack.
I would select “mic in” if you are connecting your lav mic directly to your Dell.
However, this still leaves two questions:
Does your lav mic expect bias (a small DC voltage) and if so, is it the standard 3-5V supplied by computers ?
What pin outs does your multi input jack on your Dell use, the 3 or 4 pin 3.5mm jack?
It’s best you post pics and any relevant info about your audio converter/adapter here.