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-- How do i record from my decks to my computer?

How do i record from my decks to my computer?

Ok, can someone explain how I do this? It must be said i know sweet fa about computers and stuff, so could someone please explain it in laymans terms? What sort of connection do i need? What sort of program do i need to record it? Tell me as if you were speaking to a 3 year old, that's about where my computer knowledge is at.

Thanks

Ok

Get an Audio Cable (Red and Black/White) plug it into the Master output (plug) in the rear (back) or you mixer (thing with little knobs and sliders) get the other end (buy an Audio cable with a 3.5mm jack on the other end to the Red/Black. A 3.5mm is a normal earphone jack . . the small one) plug that earphone jack into the Line In in your Sound Card (thing that does sound) in the rear (back) of your computer.

Download a program called 'Messer', try from www.download.com install it then play stuff through your mixer (eg turntables) and the sound should be running through your computer (make sure the master volume is up on the mixer, and that the Line In is not on Mute on your computer, check this by double clicking the little speaker symbol on the bottom right hand corner of this screen)
After you have done this, open messer, hit record, select what name you want to save it as and where, click save, then mix away.

I hope this is simple enough.

i would follow paragraph one of matt_a's instructions [you need to plug the cable from the mixer into the "line in" hole on the back of your sound card by the way (as stated previously!)]

then, id use sound forge [cough cough] to record in and normalise

make sure when you're recording that its not clipping [on the mixer it will have all your levels, keep them out of the red]

then its as simple as normalising/mastering and burning to cd

quote:

Originally posted by one.tjc make sure when you're recording that its not clipping [on the mixer it will have all your levels, keep them out of the red]

add to this
"make sure when you're recording that its not clipping" - soundforge

mixer:
make sure your mixer is on ZERO DB! (0 dB)
when doing transitions make sure it does not go over 0dB
a little over is ok but do not keep it on red.

quote:

Originally posted by RobSolaris mixer: make sure your mixer is on ZERO DB! (0 dB) when doing transitions make sure it does not go over 0dB a little over is ok but do not keep it on red.

yup thats it, having it slightly below 0dB gives headroom for song changes, however this headroom is usually built into the mixer and when you normalise it usually wont make a difference, all just pedantic perfectionism

Thanks for the suggestions, i'll buy the audio cable this weekend. Is there any particular brand or are they all similar? I take it i can just buy it from Harvey Norman or Retravision right?
Any more tips anyone has, bring em on!

quote:

Originally posted by one.tjc yup thats it, having it slightly below 0dB gives headroom for song changes, however this headroom is usually built into the mixer and when you normalise it usually wont make a difference, all just pedantic perfectionism

actually
it makes a differences
could try this little experiment

1) record your audio signal (music) at a very low db level
2) normalize it
3) listen to it on a good pair of headphones /monitors and you will notice that normalizing an audio will also
boosts the noise level.

therefore its good idea to always keep it at (or close to) 0 dB.

quote:

Originally posted by Mainvein Thanks for the suggestions, i'll buy the audio cable this weekend. Is there any particular brand or are they all similar? I take it i can just buy it from Harvey Norman or Retravision right? Any more tips anyone has, bring em on!

it doesn't matter what brand of cable you get

for normal home recording it doesn't matter!
if wanting to get serious about recording - studio recording
then everything will matters (ie soundcard/cable/mixer/carts etc)
for the time being, its not necessary

ok, so i've bought the audio cable. Whereabouts do i find the soundcard to plug it into? Also, the bloke at Tandy said i might need to upgrade my soundcard is this necessary? The only soundcard i have is the one that came with the computer, will this do the trick?

Thanks again!

quote:

Originally posted by Mainvein ok, so i've bought the audio cable. Whereabouts do i find the soundcard to plug it into? Also, the bloke at Tandy said i might need to upgrade my soundcard is this necessary? The only soundcard i have is the one that came with the computer, will this do the trick? Thanks again!

turn the computer around and look for where your speakers are plugged in - right next to it [or underneath it] will be another identically sized hole with line in [sometimes is blue coloured] or a symbol depicting that - plug your cable into there from the mixer.

make sure you dont plug it into the red hole - or mic.

the soundcard you have should be fine for recording from line in.

this item looks the goods.

possibly buy this as an idea for recording from decks to pc.

it really looks good.

Xitel INport USB

quote:

Originally posted by 00soups00 this item looks the goods. possibly buy this as an idea for recording from decks to pc. it really looks good. Xitel INport USB

Interesting, though I'm not sure if I'd pay $154 for that when a $5 cable will do a pretty similar job...

quote:

Originally posted by matt_a Ok Get an Audio Cable (Red and Black/White) plug it into the Master output (plug) in the rear (back) or you mixer (thing with little knobs and sliders) get the other end (buy an Audio cable with a 3.5mm jack on the other end to the Red/Black. A 3.5mm is a normal earphone jack . . the small one) plug that earphone jack into the Line In in your Sound Card (thing that does sound) in the rear (back) of your computer. Download a program called 'Messer', try from www.download.com install it then play stuff through your mixer (eg turntables) and the sound should be running through your computer (make sure the master volume is up on the mixer, and that the Line In is not on Mute on your computer, check this by double clicking the little speaker symbol on the bottom right hand corner of this screen) After you have done this, open messer, hit record, select what name you want to save it as and where, click save, then mix away. I hope this is simple enough.

ok,

so i've bought the cable and downloaded messer. Im having a few problems recording into messer. Messer is just appearing as a little green box in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. How do I record, select what name i want and where to save it to? Sorry, i'm really bad when it comes to this sort of thing!

just some hints for everyone that is needing it.


Make sure you plug the cable coming from the mixer
into the pc into the 'LINE IN' socket on your sound
card.

it will have a symbol most like of a stick like this |

with little soundwaves like ))-) something similar to
that if you turn your head.

also, make sure you double click on your volume icon
next to the clock on your desktop, and the click on properties
and make sure you select the 'recording' option to display
your volumes for the recording aspect of your sound card.
make the line in volume is up a reasonable amount (testing will
allow you to get the perfect volume between output of your
mixer and 'recording/input' volume of your soundcard.

hope this makes sense.

Also the line-in should be muted .. otherwise you're likely to get beautiful screaming feedback

quote:

Originally posted by webmeister Also the line-in should be muted .. otherwise you're likely to get beautiful screaming feedback

he means on the 'playback' option of your volume properties, just to clear that up.

ok,

it was all looking good until i tried to play back my recording and there was no sound! The speaker icon next to the clock wasn't on mute and i turned up the mixer to 0db. Soups, what did you mean by make sure to click on properties and select recording? Do you mean on the messer program itself?

Thanks mate

mainvein.

reason u probably dont get any sound, is because your linein or recording volume set for the linein slot on your soundcard has a low recording volume

when i said, double click and click on file and then properties was when you DOUBLE-CLICK on the volume icon next to your clock

double click on it.

select properties, or advanced properties (cant remember exactly what it is) and select your soundcard in the dropdown menu (if u only have one) then click the circle button so it highlights RECORDING and then make sure 'linein and auxillary' are both ticked then check the volume level.

does that work?? if not.. add me to your msn; [email protected] and when i get home ill run you through it when ive got my pc in front of me. hope this helps mate.

soups,

cheers buddy, yeah i didn't double click on the volume icon, have done so now and turned up the volume. Unfortunately i won't be able to check it again until the weekend as we only have a "family" computer, and the decks are in my room and nowhere near it. Will cart my decks down again on the weekend and give it a shot. Thanks for all your help so far, i think i might have it now.....let you know saturday for sure.

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