Can a mic input be turned into a line input?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shepherd
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Shepherd

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Please note that I also posted this to the "computers" board. Sorry to anyone this inconveniences, but also seems like a pretty newbie question.

I do a radio show in which I want to start pre-recording and pre-producing interviews and monologues at home on my computer.

Ideally, I would record these interviews on a small tape recorder I carry with me and then dump them onto my computer, using some sort of simple mixing software to give them a musical bed.

The problem I am having is that while my computer (an HP Omnibook XE2) is documented as having a combined mic in/line in jack, the jack only seems to work as a mic jack.

I would like to be able to dump line input into it without dickering an immense amount with the volume of the source tape recorder.

I'd like to know if there's a simple adaptor I can plug into the 1/8" mic input jack that will allow it to function as a line input jack...some sort of limiter or something.


If I can't do this -- or get the line-in jack to work -- my next option is to buy some sort of USB-compatible sound conversion unit, which looks like it would cost at least $250 US. I'd rather just use my computer, especially since my needs are so simple and this isn't "serious" recording.

Thanks for any advice,

- Matt Shepherd
 
It probly will handle your line. Try it and see what happens.
 
The problem is that I have tried it, and it only accepts signal when I get my software to use "mic" as a recording source. Since I'm plugging a line into this mic jack, the signal is over-amped, clips, and is noisy as hell unless I bring all levels down to about 2%.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that putting a "de-amp" on a jack to foil its pre-amp is a pretty silly-ass way to go about resolving this problem. I think I'm going to have to look into external soundcards.
 
Yeah, I tried to find settings for that, but there aren't any -- no "Advanced Options" in the volume control windows, and no other options in control panel/multimedia that give me any control over the card.
 
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