line in/mic in problem

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downinfront

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hey,
when i plug my p.a. system or any input device into my computer, i can only record when i plug it into the microphone in jack, when i put it in the line in, and record a track on cakewalk, it doesn't record the sound. do i have to switch something on the program or what? thanks
e.j.
 
hey,
thanks for the help, but i need some more... i changed the mic to the line in, and i could record fine,except it seems like it only recorded one side (left) of the recording. it was in stereo mode and everything on the track setup, so i really don't understand why this happened. please help, thanks.
 
My guess is that you are using a mono cable.

I assume you are coming out from your mixer into your soundcard, and that your soundcard has a single, 1/8" stereo line input. Mixers usually have a left and right out. So either you are only connecting to the left (or right) channel of your mixer, or the cable you are using is not stereo.

Typically you would need a Y cable. The base of the Y needs to be a 1/8" male stereo plug. The two legs of the Y normally would be 1/4" mono, or RCA mono (depending on the connections on your mixer).

Describe your setup a little more and we can talk you through it.

You might also want to consider recording in mono. That is the typical way to record (with exceptions, of course). Each individual track is in mono and you get your stereo track when you mixdown to a .wav file. (Remember, nothing is gospel in this realm, and there are certainly times and reasons you would want to record in stereo. It's just not the norm.)
 
If you have a stereo source (L and R from your PA), you need an adapter or cable to get the two signals (probably 1/4" or maybe RCA jacks) to a single stereo miniplug so you can get both sides of the stereo minijack that the sound card undoubtedly has.

Do you have a Walkman or something with those little headphones? Look at the plug. It's stereo, and has three zones separated by two plastic insulating rings. That's the kind of plug you need for the sound card end.

Radio Shack or a music store should have the right cable for your needs...
 
ok, i've read over your suggestions, and i have this one question; how much worse is it to record using the mic. in instead of the line in? will it make a big difference? thanks.
 
Depends on how good the pre-amps in your mixer are. Using the mic in, you will be using the pre-amp built into the soundcard - which is usually pretty lousy. Using the line-in in conjunction with your mixer will use the pre-amps in your mixer. Typically they will be better.
 
Not to mention that the mic in is a mono jack and so that won't solve your stereo problem...
 
okay,
i guess i won't use the mic in, but how does the mono track mixdown into a stereo track when you put it into a .wav file? this is what happened exactly: i took a break from recording guitar and plugged the cord from the soundcard into my stereo in order to put some of my band's live stuff into mp3's from a tape. i used the mic in and got it in stereo, and i got it in stereo too when i did it with the line in, but it only recorded on "one side" if you know what i mean. thanks again for your help.
 
You would convert it from mono to stereo in you EDITING PROGRAM.

I use Sound Forge 4.5. (And, it is called Channel Converter in Sound Forge).

spin
 
You can record from a stereo input in two ways: a single stereo track, or a L or R mono track.

With my SB Live it appears that you get these choices for all WAV In, so the Mic In must be mixed into the same audio stream. I presume it goes in on both sides of the stereo bus, so if you choose L or R it works, and if you choose stereo it also does, but what you actually get is two copies of the same data, one on each channel. Fake stereo, if you will.

If you record to a mono track, then you can pan that track anywhere in the stereo spread for playback. That's part of the mixing process. It's much easier to work with it this way that to try to mix a bunch of stereo tracks -- particularly fake stereo, when you basically are saving twice as much data as you really need.

For transfering stereo tapes and LPs and stuff, a stereo in with trues stereo coming in will give you true stereo, so stereo out from the mixer --> stereo Line In on the souncard gives you the best results. Whether you record a single stereo track from the stereo bus or split it to two separate tracks by setting one to the L input and the other to the R input is 6 of 1, a half-dozen of the other.

When you plugged the stereo source into the
 
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