How to hook a mixer/amplifier into computer?

Y

yazaninshewat

New member
I own a Rode M1 dynamic microphone which I wish to use for home recording. As it doesn't need phantom power I first tried using an analog/digital xlr to usb interface (CITRONIC Citronic Female XLR To USB Adaptor Interface vinyl at Juno Records) which worked but the signal was way too low and very noisy.
After researching I realized that I need a preamp to boost the signal and a way to hook the preamp to my computer. I found an old mixer at my place that I wish to use for recording and although it's giving me a very good signal with about 75% gain, I can't seem to get the sound out of it.
It has an AUX port at the back and I tried plugging it into my amplifier but no sound came out and I tried plugging it into my computer using a quarter inch to 3.5mm cable but also no sound came out. It has a line in and line out ports which I don't know what they mean but they were covered with a plug (see picture below) and when I removed the plug nothing came up on the output level meter.
How can I plug it into my computer for recording my microphone?
The mixer is called a public address amplifier/mixer. IMG_7579.JPGIMG_7567.JPGIMG_7576.JPGIMG_7577.JPGIMG_7578.JPG
 
That plug in the line-in/out is likely just that, a plug. It serves no purpose from what I could imagine.

I'd guess that the line-out would be the connection you would run from the amp to your computer. There appears to be a knob on the front to adjust the volume of the signal sent out the AUX, but that wouldn't be the primary signal(?) nor the one you ultimately want going into the computer. Which leaves only the line-out.
 
But why is there no signal on the output meter when i remove that plug? And why is there no sound when I plug the AUX into my guitar amp?
 
yazaninshewat said:
It has an AUX port at the back and I tried plugging it into my amplifier but no sound came out and I tried plugging it into my computer using a quarter inch to 3.5mm cable but also no sound came out.
Click to expand...

Ahh...probably because those are inputs...not outputs. :)

Your outputs are located at the terminal strip section (which you don't show in the pictures)...probably for feeding speakers.

That is an amplifier/mixer used for public address systems....not really meant to be used for audio recording purposes.
 
miroslav said:
Ahh...probably because those are inputs...not outputs. :)

Your outputs are located at the terminal strip section (which you don't show in the pictures)...probably for feeding speakers.

That is an amplifier/mixer used for public address systems....not really meant to be used for audio recording purposes.
Click to expand...

I assume you mean those screws that say speaker output on the left?
But I don't understand, how am I supposed to plug a speaker into those screws?
Also does that mean that it's impossible to record using this thing?IMG_7575.JPG
 
The speaker wires would be stripped, and then attached to the lugs on the terminal strip...Pos/Neg...etc.

I can't really see a worthwhile way to use this device for recording.
You need a basic mic preamp...you can get them for as cheap as $50 these days...and then out to your converter or whatever you are using as your computer interface.
 
That line plug is IMO a badly named "pre-power amp" link. It is designed to feed ancillary gear such as a limiter or an EQ system for acoustic feedback (howlround) reduction.

You need a twin RCA "phono" cable then some means of linking the two inner "hot" cores. Look for "RCA splitters".

Dave.
 
What you really need to do is run out and get a proper audio interface. Trying to use an old announcement system out of a restaurant or church left over from the 1970's is a fools errand.

A proper audio interface will allow you to simply plug the mic into it and the interface plugs into the heart usb port on the computer. It has volume controls for headphones and monitors and it will allow you to hear what you are recording with zero latency.

Trying to cobble together bits of electronics that you found in the garbage will just lead to a mess of adapters, half-assed results and misery.
 
"Trying to cobble together bits of electronics that you found in the garbage will just lead to a mess of adapters, half-assed results and misery. "

But! But! BUT! THIS is how we LEARNED the job as kids Jay! Of course you are right, consign the old stuff to landfill (we have the W.E.E. legislation here, anything similar Stateside?) and buy new and shiny if you need the gear working ASAP.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
But! But! BUT! THIS is how we LEARNED the job as kids Jay! Of course you are right, consign the old stuff to landfill (we have the W.E.E. legislation here, anything similar Stateside?) and buy new and shiny if you need the gear working ASAP.

Dave.
Click to expand...
You are correct, of course. But with a few major differences.

Without the internet, we had to get on our bicycles and ride down to the local library (in the snow, uphill, both ways), figure out how to look things up in the card catalog, employ the Dewey decimal system to find the book(s), scour the table of contents looking for the appropriate chapter, then find the page and start reading. Then, an hour later, we realize that we looked up the wrong thing, because we don't know the vocabulary that pertains to the stuff we are looking up.

Once we did find the answers we were looking for (weeks later), we found out that the only real solutions available to us cost thousands of dollars (at a time when a new car was $2500).

That's why we went back home and learned to solder and made things work with discarded stereos. But now that cars are 10 times more expensive and entry level recording equipment is 10 times cheaper, it is 100 times
less expensive to just get the right thing.
 
Farview said:
You are correct, of course. But with a few major differences.

Without the internet, we had to get on our bicycles and ride down to the local library (in the snow, uphill, both ways), figure out how to look things up in the card catalog, employ the Dewey decimal system to find the book(s), scour the table of contents looking for the appropriate chapter, then find the page and start reading. Then, an hour later, we realize that we looked up the wrong thing, because we don't know the vocabulary that pertains to the stuff we are looking up.

Once we did find the answers we were looking for (weeks later), we found out that the only real solutions available to us cost thousands of dollars (at a time when a new car was $2500).

That's why we went back home and learned to solder and made things work with discarded stereos. But now that cars are 10 times more expensive and entry level recording equipment is 10 times cheaper, it is 100 times
less expensive to just get the right thing.
Click to expand...

But then "they" never learn how anything works and they have to come bothering us!

Okay, I jest...A bit. But I still worry about this rampant consumerism and the throw away society.

Dave.
 
I get it. I have the same fears. But most things have gone computer based, there isn't much physical to mess with. If something is broken, it isn't worth fixing, because it's just a power supply, an IC or two and an led...

I used to fix my own cars, but there is no point anymore. It's all computer controlled, and what isn't is so stuffed in there that it's better to pay someone else to screw with it.

There is also no point in fixing something that isn't worth a shit in the first place.
 
For the OP to *try* and get the amplifier working is a very easy and cheap project (they likely have spare cables laying around, they could even splice things <-- this is how I accomplished A LOT early in my recording days ;) ). There's not much harm to come from trying.

While I agree that the best sounding solution would be to buy a modern preamp, there's nothing inherently wrong with trying to get what they have to work. Once they discover it isn't up to task they will have gained some knowledge from the experience. Then they'll pony up the money to get a proper preamp. So they will end up with some knowledge AND the proper solution, at a nominal cost in time/effort.

I don't feel it's fair or funny to deny them the chance to learn.
 
If he wants to learn by doing, don't ask, do. If he wants to take the shortcut and get the "right" answer right away, it's "get an interface". Going online for advice on how to do it wrong makes no sense. Strike that. Advising how to use that hardware for that application doesn't necessarily help the OP.
 
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No Mark, he needs to link the two RCAs together, like a mixer insert.

These pre-power links were fairly common on the more expensive integrated hi fi amps of a couple of decades ago and THEY pinched the idea from the PA amp makers before that. CTH amps even a "proper" insert using a TRS jack. Trouble was it was a UK GPO jack and peeps WOULD plug standard ones in and bugger the contacts!

My Teac A3440 has a 4 of them to facilitate a DBX system.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
No Mark, he needs to link the two RCAs together, like a mixer insert.

These pre-power links were fairly common on the more expensive integrated hi fi amps of a couple of decades ago and THEY pinched the idea from the PA amp makers before that. CTH amps even a "proper" insert using a TRS jack. Trouble was it was a UK GPO jack and peeps WOULD plug standard ones in and bugger the contacts!

My Teac A3440 has a 4 of them to facilitate a DBX system.

Dave.
Click to expand...
Yup, a lot of my older gear has the send/return RCA's, most with that bridging link connector (remember, you and I are of about the same vintage :) ). I believe the OP is attempting to use just the preamp part of the amp for his mic and not the power section, so to do that he would just want to take the signal out of the RCA LINE OUT jack and 'send' it to his 'inline' USB interface. How well it would work is questionable, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Couldn't find a schematic for his specific amp. The one below is an Inkel 2000/4000 which may be similar, but uses a typical 1/4" switched set of Send/Return jacks rather than the RCA bridging link.
 

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