Recording from dj mixer to HP laptop

[morganj5]

Hi i wish to record a dj mix from a via a dj mixer to my Laptop which is a HP Pavilion g series. I don't know much in relation to tech issues such a souncards etc My laptop just has a mic line for a 'line-in', can i record through this without causing damage? I have read that i could possibly blow parts of my laptop and therefore need to make adjustments to audacity settings. Can anyone please provide me with some clear info to help on this? Thanks, James.

[kozikowski]

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/ ... Lenovo.jpg

That's a Behringer UCA202 and that's the device we recommend for computers that have no Stereo Line-In. That's my mixer. Mic-In, unless you have a very special computer, is mono and it's very easy to create trash instead of music if you're not using a microphone.

Koz

[DVDdoug]

My laptop just has a mic line for a 'line-in', can i record through this without causing damage? I have read that i could possibly blow parts of my laptop and therefore need to make adjustments to audacity settings.

You won't "blow" anything on your laptop, but as Koz says, you are unlikely to get good results. If you happen to have a soundchip that can be switched between mic and line, you should have a special audio configuration utility on your laptop to do that.

If your mixer has a USB output, you can use that. Otherwise, the UCA202 is usually the least expensive way to get a line-input. (Note that most USB soundcards have only mic-in and headphone-out, just like a laptop.)

[kozikowski]

can be switched between mic and line,

And even if you do, there are sometimes problems. We have a current posting from someone whose Mic/Line shifting doesn't work right. It seems to be stuck giving him the worst characteristics of both.

Koz