Line in jack problem

BillC15

BillC15

New member
I posted something like this in a different part of the forum so sorry for repeating myself but this is a better place for my problem.

When recording through my line in jack, Sound comes out of and is recorded through the left speaker only. Now let me put it out there now: It is definitely not the speakers. I've recorded through the mic input and had no problems. I also have checked the system volume and balance and it is set to middle. Any help?
 
Alright, thanks. But I found something interesting. I have a realtek sound card and it has a sort of program containing stuff like sound effects and connector sensing. When you plug into the sound card, the program comes up. Under the connector sensing tab, it gives you the option to tell it what to recognize the input device as under each different input. When I plug in my guitar to my amp and hook the line out to the line in on my sound card and tell realtek to recognize it as a microphone, and then tell my recording software (Mixcraft 3) that the source is the microphone jack, presto! It's stereo. I find it weird that even though I'm plugged into the line in, it will only be stereo if I tell both programs it's a microphone. Is this normal? I've heard that you should record guitar through the line in instead of the mic in. Would you recommend recording guitar like this, or should I go through the mic in the same way?
 
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The mic in is mono, as such, the driver software will make it stereo by sending it equally left and right ot the output.

The line in is stereo. Now, if you are using a mono plug into the line in, essentially the signal goes to the tip connection (left) is connected fine, but the ring doesn't exist, so the ground and sleeve connector effectively get conneted together, setting the right channel to zero.

Changing the balance will not help as all this does is change the relative volumes of the left and right channels.

So, if you want to record through the line in, you need to use a stero connector if you want to record a stereo signal.

Look here for more details......


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_plug#Mono_and_stereo_compatibility


And I think that deserves some rep.......... ;)
 
Never ever record guitar through the mic input. The mic input on a computer is crap. Actually the fact that you have a realtek soundcard is bad news enough, but it can do the job for a beginning..

Carter has it backwards.. A line is stereo, and the mic input is mono. The reason you hear only the left speaker is because a guitar patch cable (or in this case, probably the cable you are using for the line out) works in mono, and by default mono signals are routed to the left in stereo inputs.

If you're using a proper audio recording program, then you should still be able to convert it to a signal you can hear over both speakers. Note that simply because you can hear the mic input on both speakers doesn't mean it is "stereo", this is a misconception. The only way to truly tell it is a stereo signal is if you have an effect that uses stereo on the amp.
 
Recording a guitar through the line in on your sound card will invariably sound crap!
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Not necessarily. And for the sake of not confusing the guy, I think it should be made clear that you should always choose the line in over the mic.

Your results with the line are mostly dependent on what kind of signal is going in it. Is it "line-level", ie is there some kind of pre-amp involved. Also I have had fair results feeding a direct guitar into a line, and using an amp sim to process it.
 
Mistral said:
Not necessarily. And for the sake of not confusing the guy, I think it should be made clear that you should always choose the line in over the mic.

Your results with the line are mostly dependent on what kind of signal is going in it. Is it "line-level", ie is there some kind of pre-amp involved. Also I have had fair results feeding a direct guitar into a line, and using an amp sim to process it.
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I must admit, I was assuming he was pluggin his guitar in direct....


Yeah I do record direct, but I use a DI box and amp sim VSTs which can get decent results...... But I'm guessing someone using a realtek sound card for recording isn't doing these things.....
 
Gandalf said:
My explanation was better anyway :D


But I did re-read the orriginal post after my reply and thought no no no!

Recording a guitar through the line in on your sound card will invariably sound crap!
Click to expand...

Well what do you recommend I run my amp output to?
 
BillC15 said:
Well what do you recommend I run my amp output to?
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Ok that takes care of the impedance and level, so you don't need a DI box.

However, the frequency response of the speaker in a guitar amp significantly affects the tone. Bypassing this and doing nothing to simulate it will sound pretty bad.

You probably want to run the signal through a speaker cabinet simulator plug in. Not sure if there are any decent free ones......
 
So I need a stereo connector. I'm assuming you can buy this at a local radioshack. Right now I'm using a stereo mini adapter so I can plug my 1/4 inch guitar cable into it and then the whole thing into the line in. So let me get this straight: This adapter that I'm using now is mono and I need to get a stereo adapter?
 
BillC15 said:
So I need a stereo connector. I'm assuming you can buy this at a local radioshack. Right now I'm using a stereo mini adapter so I can plug my 1/4 inch guitar cable into it and then the whole thing into the line in. So let me get this straight: This adapter that I'm using now is mono and I need to get a stereo adapter?
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What you really need to do is set up the inputs in your DAW as mono inputs. Then add a mono track. This will give you control over your panning.
 
I only have the option of setting the track stereo, left or right. But even though I'm using the line in, telling my DAW and sound card to recognize the input device as a mic seemed to solve the problem. Would purchasing a stereo instrument cable solve the problem and produce better results without telling my DAW and sound card to recognize it as a mic? (Sorry for these nubile questions but I'm new to recording so thanks for bearing with me ;))
 
if you're feeding a line output to a line input, then yeah, a stereo cable is always the best choice, and you won't have to use this workaround.. maybe it will give better results, too especially if your input actually uses stereo effects.

as far as what gandalf said, the line out of some amps have room sim already, so while not ideal, the sound is probably useable.
 
BillC15 said:
So I need a stereo connector. I'm assuming you can buy this at a local radioshack. Right now I'm using a stereo mini adapter so I can plug my 1/4 inch guitar cable into it and then the whole thing into the line in. So let me get this straight: This adapter that I'm using now is mono and I need to get a stereo adapter?
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That about sums things up. A guitar cable is mono, so that would be the problem right there. I like to always have a 1/8" (stereo) male to male cable and 2 1/8-1/4" adapters, so I'm set for just about any situation. Then if you have professional audio cards, many of which use RCA, you need even more convertors... it can become a headache.
 
Alright guys I'd like to thank you all for getting me going on recording. Thanks for your concern and quick replies.
 
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