Having Difficulty Recording through Line In.

  • Thread starter Thread starter selfcase
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selfcase

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I've got a mic hooked up to a pre-amp which in turn goes into the Line In on my soundcard.

I'm trying to record now, and the computer's just not having it.

I clicked on the Recording Properties on my soundcard, and selected 'Line In', and dragged the volume all the way up, but it still won't record anything. (I'm recording through Cool Edit, but I also tried it with Sound Recorder, and it still wouldn't work; I made sure I have the right soundcard selected with CE)

Any suggestions? Mic In works fine, (so it's not the Mic, either) but I seem to make enemies when I tell people that I record through it. Line Out is also good, and it's a fairly new soundcard, and there's no reason that the Line In jack would be busted.

If it's any help, when I do record something, there's a very very very weak signal.. I don't know why or from what.. It doesn't vary no matter how much I scream obscenities into the mic or bang it against my head.
 
selfcase, I was hard on you in the guitar forum and I apologize, I will be nicer here in the newbie forum. ;)

I would check my cables first.

Also, do you have a cd player or boombox with a line out? Go line out to line in on your soundcard and try to record something. That should help you narrow yourself down to whether it is the soundcard or the mic/preamp chain.

If neither work give us some detail on what kind of mic and pre-amp.

Pete
 
I know pretty much nothing about sound cards, but if your mic is a condenser it probably requires phantom power from the preamp. Make sure you have engaged the phantom power switch.

If that doesn't change anything, try plugging your preamp into something else - a mixer, a power amp - anything to see if the preamp is passing signal. If necessary, bring your mic and mixer to a music store and let them test it there... just so you can narrow down where the problem is or isn't.

If the mic and preamp are fine (and the cables check out as well) then the problem must be in your sound card, and someone else will have to help you with that! ;)
 
What did you finally decide to use as a preamp? What is the mic?
 
Make sure that your soundcard doesn't have the line in muted in software somewhere.

Aside from that and the cables, yes- line in ports can die while the rest of the card still works.
 
..

Okay, I think the only possibility left is that the soundcard Line In is muted somehow, or else it's busted.

I recorded some crap on a tape deck, and the went line out to line in on my stereo receiver, and it worked just fine, so there's nothing wrong with the tape deck. Likewise, I used a 2 RCA to minijack converter on separate equipment, and that worked, so it's not the cord.

My computer is about 3 months old, and this is the very first time I've used the line in. Mic In and Line out still work fine. So I doubt the line in has died. Also, like I mentioned earlier, when I record in Sound Recorder, and my recording controls have 'Line In' selected and the volume is raised, I get this weak weak signal instead of nothing at all, so I guess it can't be completely broken.

Therefore, I'm pretty sure it's muted somewhere? Any suggestions what I need to do to un-mute it?
 
I don't know about the muting thing though it's quite possible.....However, have you tried recording on all the channels....When I used to record with the line in on my old gaming card it only recorded when you set it to the left channel...If you recorded with it in stereo or right channel it would produce a very weak signal that would be barely audible. You wouldn't even notice it unless you turned the volume all the way up....Kinda like you described.....


Don't know if that will get you anywhere...but it is a possibility as well....
 
If you have a Creative SoundCard, go to:

Start Menu -> Programs -> Creative -> Sound Blaster X -> Creative Recorder

(Replace the 'X' with the model i.e.: Live, Audigy, etc)

In Creative Recorder, click on the dropbox under 'Record From' and choose Line In. Now it should work in all your softwares.

Peace,
Beathoven
 
..

I wrote the guys who made the card, the guy who wrote me back suggested I take it out and plug it back in.. Same driver, same everything, so I did so and it started working. Absolutely retarded.





By the way, I have a really hot tip for new recorders.. When recording your voice or guitar or anything, make sure the phone's unplugged.
 
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