HELP WITH RECORDING SET-UP?

g'day all,

hoping someone can help?

just got audacity set up on my new laptop to record some mixes. i've set it up the same as i used to have and all the recording levels are fine. it records nice and clear from the decks to the laptop but when i turn my amp on and plug in thr 'rca to mic' cord in from my mixer or amp to the laptop i get a loud static noise which not only comes through the speakers but records on the laptop too.

it is a new amp but thats the only difference in setup.

any ideas anybody??????? 

RCA to mic? try using balanced cables out of your mixer like Dual TRS to mini TRS (1/4" jack with 2 black bands) into (i'm guessing you are just using the audio input on the laptop, no dedicated external soundcard) mini TRS. The cable you are using is possibly unbalanced and this is where the interference is coming from or try recording without the computers power supply plugged in.

this^^^

by the way I have read it you are running an rca from your mixer output to your mic output on your lappy?
you need to run your cable into the audio input on your lappy.

yeah i've got plugged into the mic input of the laptop, i couldnt see any other audion input? but i'll check again tonight.


yeah just using the mic input, dont have a soundcard. will try without the power cable on and sounds like balanced cables might be the go could i get them a tandys or something?

thanks guys that gives me some things to try out. just had me boggled cause it worked fine with my old lappy/amp

Go see one of the boys at derringers city, i wouldnt buy anything from tandy or dick smiths in the way of cables especially if you are wanting good recordings.

Mic input isn't cool, try checking in your audio set up options in windows or whatever platform you run, on a mac you can switch your audio output (headphone output) into a audio input in these settings.

yeah thought that and gave em a call, going in to pick up a balanced lead now 

running windows, will check out audio input options too. cheers bro!

The mic input is nasty on laptops (and in general) mate. It'll probably only record in mono too. I'd buy a standalone USB audio interface with inputs/outputs if I were you. I've run with a cheapy in the past (Behringer UCA-202) that does the job fine but there's better ones out there if you're keen for more bells and whistles...

well i got a quality cable from derringers on friday and that made a big differnece but the static was still there, just not so loud. i then unplugged the charger cord for the laptop and that was it! no static at all which was great but my laptop goes to sleep pretty quick without it. i changed the settings on it so it stays on but im not sure if it will last long enough to record a 75min mix. i also tried plugging the laptop charger into the same powerboard as all the other equipment just in case it was something like that but it diddnt make a difference at all?

does anyone know why it might do this? never happend with my old laptop.

microphone inputs on computers work exactly like a mic, they pick up any sound and send it thru the input.

so maybe ur power box or laptop somewhere is making a staic noise which the mic input is picking up.

try turning the record input level down as much as possible, then turning ur decks up. this can eliminate most internal noise form the computer.

best investment ull ever make is to buy a soundcard . problem solvered.

yeah i definately reckon it's the laptop/charger that has the problem

i did try turning the recording level right down and turned the decks up, which sounded ok through the speakers but the static was still very much there on the recording

i've never been too sure how a soundcard works  but it might be the way to go then

If all you're doing is recording mixes then look into Glocks suggestion. No setup required at all really.

yeah that looks like a good lil unit, just not too sure if it will help with static caused by the charger/power cable but im running out of options so i'll give it a go, they're only $70 anyways

i even gave our office IT support guy a call, he just said some laptops do that and to try a external soundcard but i'll give the a go first me reckons

I got the behringer ufo 202.. just run Audacity with that.. run it out of my record rca's...

Simple, easy, and costs ya bout $65... Fucking round with the PC mic is a prick, so I gave up and bought one of them (uf0202)

yeah derringers have one left, gonna pick it up on the way home, cheers guys. i'll let ya's know how it goes

the suspence is killing me , hurry up!

haha! the frustration is killing me!

didnt make a difference at all....

tried using different leads, amp inputs, power boards, power sockets, even used the OLD laptop charger and nothing made any difference.

gonna get back the old amp and try that tonight.

if that dosent make a difference im just gonna start smashing stuff!  

external sound card didnt work?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

nah i got the from derringers and got it set up but alas that didnt make any difference at all from how it sounds with the balanced lead to the mic input.

im think it must be something to do with the laptop it self or the amp. im gonna try a different laptop and amp tonight and see if either of those makes any difference...

sound like dodgey grounding in your laptop's power adapter. I had a Del lappy a while ago that did that even with my Motu Soundcard. I then got an after market power suply with a ground lift feature that did the trick.

Luckily now I only use Macs now that dont have that issue 

good luck!!

cheers, im gonna need it me thinks!


yeh i thought something like that too and tried out my old laptop charger which i still had, which worked fine with the old laptop but it didnt make a difference? might be worth a shot though. see how i go tonight with the other laptop and amp

sounds like the dodgey grounding is in your new laptop then not the supply. A supply with a ground lift should fix it.

yeah, i googled 'laptop power supply with gound lift' and it came up with a bunch of forum topics one being from ITM, it was for a really similar problem to mine, the fix was an 'audio ground loop isolator' which i sourced at jaycar for only $15! gonna pick one up and give a go tonight.

Your mic input will probably still record only in mono if you end up staying with that option, I'd definitely still recommend a separate USB interface...

2nd'd


I had my lappy recording it ok, but it was mono as fuck! only hear half a tune

audio ground loop isolator = win!!!

just plugged it in between the mixer and the Behringer UCA-202 and theres no feedback or static at all

will definately keep using the usb instead of the mic input

cheers to everybody for the help and ideas! 

new mix will be up soon!!!  boh!

well done

Thought I'd revive this instead of making a brand new thread.

I've been having static issues when recording mixes lately. It doesn't happen constantly, but tends to start at a certain point within the mix and can last for anywhere from a couple of minutes to even 20 minutes before going back to normal.

I'm running RCA from the mixer to my soundcard and recording on cooledit. It doesn't seem to be faulty rca cables as I've tried with different ones and it's happening for both vinyl and cdj. I can upload a recent example.

Annoying because I've put down a couple of mixes I've been happy with lately, besides the static.

What do you mean here, is the static starting after recording for a certain duration when it occurs? 

It could be a number of things but make sure your rca cable isn't running with any power cables or near any transformers.  Secondly check the connection into your soundcard (especially if its a 1/4" headphone jack).  Is your soundcard internal or external?

Yeah the static doesn't carry throughout, some songs are fine on vinyl or cdj regardless. For example the last recording I did it went from about 2 minutes into the mix until about 17minutes in, but it varies from mix to mix, some periods of static only last a couple of minutes.

The soundcard is internal and the rca goes to l/r input on it.

I'll try power cables, but I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to make a list of things and troubleshoot. Just thought I'd check for any similar issues people have had and any suggestions

Do you have any lights/fans/sprinklers/anything else on timers? Could be something on the power circuit creating a dirty circuit, which will create static/humming with audio.

Happens a lot in old houses, its quite rare but always something to add to the list.

One simple thing to check is whether your outputs are set to digital (line) or analog (phono) output as well. There should be a switch near the ports. I had issues once with forgetting to switch it over when using a CDJ and the recording came out all fuzzy due to the port being boosted for the analog signal.

You can see the line/phono switch for a Pioneer mixer in these pics.

image not archived: Pioneer%2520DJM-400%2520rear%2520mixer.jpg

(I think that's the case anyway, can any techheads back me up? I'm pretty rusty on this stuff these days.)

If it were set to phono it would distort like crazy for the entire time.

Boosting line level signal by ~15dB sounds like absolute shit, unless you're into that kinda thing

Well the sound to my speakers is master 1 and there are no issues there, it plays perfect. Master 2 is going to the soundcard and it's when I play back the mix that the static becomes apparent. I have the levels quite low, and it's not clipping. Thanks for all the suggestions so far everyone, I will have to wait until this afternoon to try a few things out.

Yeah the weird thing is it was coming out perfectly through the PA for the whole night but only when I played back the recording (via booth out) after, could you hear the distortion.

Im guessing you have probably already thought of this but just incase, have you checked that its not just caused by power leads running across or alongside of audio leads? 

Possibly you have a power lead that is only crossing your output to the soundcard which is causing the distortion/noise in the recording.

I use an external card to record but I still find quite often after re arranging equipment , leads etc I will find a slight noise coming back through my monitors / recording. Which is easilly fixed by a quick re shuffle of my power / audio leads.

Just a thought..

Big thanks to roost for the power cables suggestion, the psu sits at the bottom of my case which is also near the internal sound card incidentally.

Propping the rca cable up and out of the way worked a treat. I owe you a beer.

Ah yeah, always put your soundcard in the furthest PCI slot away from everything else to avoid interference. I used to stick mine in the bottom slot and GFX, TV card, etc. up in the top ones descending down.

Glad to hear it worked mate.