Help with a single PC, single mixer, single Mic setup for streaming or recording

907Shrake

New member
Hey all,

I've purchased a few components to enhance the audio experience of my PC for
either recording or streaming and I'm having difficulty making things work.

Here's what I have:

--a Windows PC
--Mackie 402VLZ4 Analog Mixer
--2x Stereo RCA to 3.5mm cables for in/out jacks on the back of the motherboard
--1/4'' jack to RCA converters
--GLS ES-58-S XLR Mic
--XLR Cable
--Either Sennheiser HD 280 Pro (64 Ohms impedence) or Cyber Acoustics 2.1 speakers

I did a bit of googling and tried a few things, but for the life of me, I can't get the microphone to work nor the headphones to correctly function while connected to the mixer.
Can anyone assist? Also: Do I need another audio interface or will the mixer do just fine?

The main things I want to do:
Use the mixer as an interface for PC audio and mic audio
Control volume of the XLR mic separately
Control volume of the headphones or speakers separately
Enhance the audio of a single PC streaming setup


Any helpful direction would be very much appreciated!
Thank you for reading.
 
This article is older, but it got me going when I first connected a mixer to my computer.
Using a Mixer With a DAW

I would suggest that you get a better audio interface than just the ports on your motherboard, though, as I suspect you won't be entirely happy with the results of your efforts.
 
This article is older, but it got me going when I first connected a mixer to my computer.
Using a Mixer With a DAW

I would suggest that you get a better audio interface than just the ports on your motherboard, though, as I suspect you won't be entirely happy with the results of your efforts.

Hey, thanks for the response - I'll give that a read-through.

Regarding audio interfaces: My Realtek ALC1150: may be useless? If so, do you have a nice cost-to-quality ratio recommendation for an audio interface?
 
This is an old problem Shrake (and really belongs in the Newb section WTGR!)

The setup you have described SHOULD work. The mixer feeding the 1/8" (ugh!) jack input but the levels will be all over the shop IF you can sort out the routing and the results generally poor and not easy to use.

So yes, you need an interface, the cheapest one I know of decent quality is the Alesis i02 at about £70 (and you could still use the mixer with it because it has inserts).

If cash is really a problem, and I only suggest this because of the mixer, the Behringer UCA 202/222 is actually a reasonable device. NOT nearly as good as the i02 but very fair for 25 quid.

Dave.
 
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