Mackie 1202 into BR-600 - PLEASE HELP!!!

[91LesPaul]

So, originally we had a set up for recording/playing in my man-cave that consisted of mics/instruments plugged into a Mackie 120 vlz, then ran the Main Outs 1/4" to an adapter, that connected to the Line-In of the Roland BR-600 recorder. Then ran the

This worked fine enough for recording (single track at a time) Line Outs of the BR-600 to acoustic guitar amps. Sound wasn't that great, but was good enough at the time. Then we got some Roland electronic drums, and that sounded like crap through the guitar amps.

Recently picked at an inexpensive PA. Sound quality is 1000x better, however now I'm issues getting the BR-600 back in the chain. The Main Outs from the mixer, now go to the QSC Amp. I tried the Control Room out from the mixer to the Line In of the BR-600, but that produces an AWFUL noise! Forgot to mention, ran the audio out of the BR-600 to AUX of my stereo system, which "should" allow for playback, while recording additional track. I've tried a few other options, 1) Tape Out from mixer to Line In of BR-600, 2) AUX Send from mixer to BR-600, 3) Split Main Outs from Mixer to Line In of BR-600. I either get that AWFUL noise through my stereo, or nothing at all.

This is getting really annoying. What am I doing wrong. I know very little about this stuff, and what I do know has been trial and error.

I'm wondering if it could be wrong cables from mixer to to BR-600 (well to the 3.5mm adapter at least). Balanced or Unbalanced cables? If so, which should they be, and how do I identify which they are?

I'll buy whoever helps a "virtual" beer!

 

[Lt. Bob]

well, the awful noise initially strikes me as a feedback loop of some kind.

When you say you run the audio of the 600 to your stereo. are you talking about a totally different system than the mixer goes into?
Or do you have the mixer also going to your stereo?

In some configurations you can't monitor the sudio from the 600 at the same time as running tracks into it because if any of the audio out from the 600 goes back into the front of the 600 you'll get feedback.

You may or may not need different cables but they are probably not gonna be the cause of the 'awful noise'.
A good bit of more specifics concerning how the stereo and mixer interconnect ( if at all ) would be helpful.

 

[91LesPaul]

Nope the stereo is not connected to the mixer.

I actually made that mistake initially by running the output from the recorder back into the mixer. That was a "DUH!" moment.

 

[mjbphotos]

Make sure you have the "Line IN" button lit up on the BR 600, and the recording level turned up.
If you are still getting bad noise, take the lines that are feeding the BR600 and run them direct to your 'stereo' - still go noise? Then the problem is from the mixer out. No noise - the problem is the BR600/output.