just bought a new sound card ,sound blaster live 5.1 , its a decent sound card(not the best), but i have a problem , i use the adapter on the guitars cable to hook it up to the computer, when i plug it in i can only hear my guitar from the left speaker, i have both mono and stereo adapters and i tried both and the same thing happens, i tried my guitar on my pa system and amp and it works fine , i get sound from both speakers , what am i doing wrong ? if i plug in the guitar into the mic input on my sound card with the stereo adapter i hear the guitar from both speakers , but i put it in the line in the i dont hear anything from the right speaker, ive tried every setting on the computer i just cant fix this can someone please help me, im exactly a pro, can someone help me ?
Help I can only hear audio from one speaker
- Thread starter kostas04
- Start date
subtractor
New member
A guitar is a mono instrument. Running anything into the mic in will use both speakers, but unless it's a 2 channel/stereo instrument it will not use both speakers with line in...
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
Guitar jack is mono, while the Line In port is stereo. When you plug a mono source into a stereo input you are going to get sound only on one side (left side typically).
The reason this works ok with the mic in port, is that the mic port is a mono port (because a mic is a mono source).
Same with your PA system. Most likely your mixing board is setup to receive mono sources. Stereo sources are the exception, and most mixing boards only have a couple of stereo inputs. Usually to run stereo into a mixing board, you need to plug into two separate channels.
When you record the guitar, if you tell your recording software you a using a mono source (i.e., by selecting Sound Card Left as your input) you should get the sound in both ears.
The reason this works ok with the mic in port, is that the mic port is a mono port (because a mic is a mono source).
Same with your PA system. Most likely your mixing board is setup to receive mono sources. Stereo sources are the exception, and most mixing boards only have a couple of stereo inputs. Usually to run stereo into a mixing board, you need to plug into two separate channels.
When you record the guitar, if you tell your recording software you a using a mono source (i.e., by selecting Sound Card Left as your input) you should get the sound in both ears.
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
When you said you had a PA system, I assumed you had a mixing board. Where do you plug your equipment into your PA system? 
Anyways... it doesn't matter whether you use a mono or stereo adapter. The guitar is going to be mono either way.
Select a mono source in your recording software. I'm not sure offhand whether you will still hear it in one ear while you are recording, but after you have recorded the track, the playback will be in both ears (or both speakers) so long as the track is panned center.
Anyways... it doesn't matter whether you use a mono or stereo adapter. The guitar is going to be mono either way.
Select a mono source in your recording software. I'm not sure offhand whether you will still hear it in one ear while you are recording, but after you have recorded the track, the playback will be in both ears (or both speakers) so long as the track is panned center.
dachay2tnr is a Genius lol , i got it to work , when i record i only hear the guitar from one speaker , which is fine, but when i play what i recorded i can hear it from both speakers !i had to change the setting to mono , close the program then restart it so the change takes effect, Thanks to you dachay2tnr i understand alot more about recording, this all makes sense now, anyways hopefully this thread can help another newbie
AlChuck
Well-known member
That's an awfully clumsy way to have to record.
As a recording source for your track, you should be able to select a stereo track, or either the L or R side of the stereo Line In for a mon track. You should be able to simply record a mono track off the L or R side (whichever is the one you have) and that will be it. No opening and closing the program for any settings changes to take.
That dialog box sets the track defaults -- what the setting are when you add a new track -- but you can change that in the individual tracks themselves. (Though the best way to record is to record mono tracks and worry about the stereo image in the mixing process using panning and stereo effects -- delay, ververb -- to create a stereo image in the final mix. So maybe you should leave the default at mono.)
The reason you still hear it from one side as you record is that you are monitoring off the signal coming into the Line In, not monitoring the track you are recording itself.
As a recording source for your track, you should be able to select a stereo track, or either the L or R side of the stereo Line In for a mon track. You should be able to simply record a mono track off the L or R side (whichever is the one you have) and that will be it. No opening and closing the program for any settings changes to take.
That dialog box sets the track defaults -- what the setting are when you add a new track -- but you can change that in the individual tracks themselves. (Though the best way to record is to record mono tracks and worry about the stereo image in the mixing process using panning and stereo effects -- delay, ververb -- to create a stereo image in the final mix. So maybe you should leave the default at mono.)
The reason you still hear it from one side as you record is that you are monitoring off the signal coming into the Line In, not monitoring the track you are recording itself.
BluesMeister
Occasional Poster
My amp has a recording-out 1/4" socket, mono naturally. My soundcard has 2 x RCA phono input sockets (amongst other inputs).
I bought a mono 1/4" jack to 2 x RCA phono sockets flying lead from Tandy. I already had a lead with 2 x RCA plugs at either end.
So now I can record my guitar in stereo, mono L, or mono R, and still hear everything on both speakers.
--
BluesMeister
I bought a mono 1/4" jack to 2 x RCA phono sockets flying lead from Tandy. I already had a lead with 2 x RCA plugs at either end.
So now I can record my guitar in stereo, mono L, or mono R, and still hear everything on both speakers.
--
BluesMeister
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
Bluesman - you're not really recording in stereo when you are sending the same signal both right and left... but I get the drift. This would work to allow you to "hear" from both sides while recording.BluesMeister said:
Kostas, you shouldn't have to change the "default" settings in CE to mono (as your picture indicates). I don't use CE, but you should be able to leave the global default set to stereo, and then just select mono as the input source for the specific track you are recording to. Usually each track should have 3 choices for input, Sound Card Left, Sound Card Right and Sound Card Stereo (at least on those cards like an SB LIve that just have a stereo Line In connection).
You can actually record two tracks simultaneously with this setup (although you will need a spitter as Bluesmeister has recommended). With the splitter you can feed one instrument to the left channel and a second to the right channel. Arm two tracks for recording in your software and select Left as the input for one, and right for the other.
Probably more knowledge than you need right now.
