How to set up AKG D770 to my laptop

J

jamesino

New member
Hi I am a complete noob to this.

I recently purchased an AKG D770 to use as a microphone for recording Youtube videos (nothing too serious). But Im not sure how to plug it in.

I bought it use and it came with the microphone and a female 3-pin XLR to 1/4" adapter. I plugged my micrphone into the female XLR and plugged the 1/4" into a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter and plugged that into the 1/8" microphone hole on my laptop. But nothing happens. The mike does not pic up a sound and there's no device driver installation that usually pops up on a Windows 7 machine when i plug in a new hardware.

What am I doing wrong? There's also no battery, as far as I can tell, in the mike, so how does it stay powered?

What other cables do I need to get? Thanks.

Edit: Specifically, the adapter is an Audio-Technica CP8201 Microphone Impedance Matching Transformer, 250 - 50k Ohms
 
The input on your computer may be a line input instead of a mic input. That's the first thing to make sure of.

After that what software are you using to record?

You don't need any different cables, but using a dedicated audio interface might yield better results.
 
I have a Dell XPS L502X. I think it has a headphone jack, a microphone jack and a S/PDIF connector. And so far, I'm just using the windows audio recorder program under "Accessories"
 
Oh wait nvm, I was plugging it into the headphone jack, my mistake.

But when I plug it into the mic input, the recorded sound is only audible in my left ear when I listen to it with headphones and it is extremely quiet. Is this some sort of power issue? Is the impedance too high or something?
 
That sounds about normal.
I guess the jack on the laptop is a stereo input which would explain hearing in one ear only.

The low level is normal. Dynamic mics often have a very low output.
Laptop audio cards aren't really designed for professional microphones.

You may be able to boost the signal in your software but 9 times out of 10 the noise level is too high to get a workable signal anyway.

Here's a little guide for you.
 
Oh the D770 is a mono microphone? Is this normal for mics or just for dynamics? Is there any affordable hardware I can get to improve the sound? The seller told me that getting some sort of adapter cable will actually improve the signal, rather than just converting the connecting ends.
 
Whether you use one cable or adapters wont really affect the sound, at least not in the way that you'd hope.

The majority of microphones are mono. It'll be advertised if its stereo.

Any small usb or firewire interface with mic preamps in it will be a far better match than your current gear.
They're not essential if you just want to play around, but worth it for any way serious recording.

Tascam's probably a good name to look at.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top