Audacity Forum

hi all newbie here and hope someone can help.

Im a bedroom dj and i record mixes on to mini disc and the cd.but as i hear this is dear way round it.

i tried to use audacity before but as i was potching with the settings i blew my soundcard up on my laptop.

so after downloading audacity i then got a rca to jack cable plugged it in to my master on mixer to and jack into laptop mic i click record.but i get nothing.im a bit afraid to be playing with settings as what happened to my last laptop.

So i wondering if someone could take me through the whole process of setting this up.

denon dns 1200 x2
numark x6 mixer
mixvibes u46 mk2 sound card
also running mixvibe cross pack
hp quad core laptop

i am also running 64bit window 7 on laptop

Thanks all

It's unlikely that you did anyting to damage your soundcard...

There might be something helpful on this page. Make sure you've selected the mic input, and not the mic built-into your laptop.

Have you connected something else to the mixer's RCA outputs to make sure you've got a signal?

There are a couple of other issues... Firstly, the mic input is not the correct match for your mixers line-out. You will probably overload the input and end-up with distortion. Plus, mic inputs on regular consumer soundcards are generally lousy (noisy). The soundcard mic input is also the wrong match for a good studio/performance mic which will be "low impedance balanced" (with an XLR connector). The bottom line is, that the soundcard built-into a laptop is generally usless for quality recording. (Often the regular built-in souncard is OK for playback/monitoring with good headphones or good speakers/monitors.)

If you want to "capture" your performance with high quality, I recommend you get an external interface with line-level inputs. The Behringer UCA202 is probably the most affordable option. (Beware that most USB soundcards are like laptops with only a line-in and headphone-out.)

Or if you want to "create" a performance, you can probably do that with digitally in Audacity (or other audio editor/DAW) without performing/recording in real-time (unless you are playing vinyl). I've done some CDs with simple "traditional" DJ-style crossfades (no scratching or anything fancy) without recording anything. A lot of modern pop/dance/rap is done "in the box" with very little actual recording (vocals excepted).

thanks for links an advice.could i use this one in stead of the one you stated

http://www.soundware.co.uk/sc/products/ ... YA44%20USB