Multitrack Problem

[charliep938]

Hey, so heres the problem:

Basically I have just purchased 2 mics, and a Yamaha MG102c mixer. When using one microphone to record it is fine, but I want to use 2 mics at the same time and get each mixer channel to correspond to to the track number, i.e mixer channel 1 records to track 1 etc. But when I hit record the 2 mics are present on both tracks (not separate).

I connect the mixer using an RCA cable to the line in on my laptop, any ideas?

Thanks in advance
Charlie

 

[ranjam]

That's a horrible way to record. To go really 'stereo', you should have an interface, and disable the internal sound card on your computer (unless you have a killer sound card). The interface will determine how many separate tracks you can record simultaneously. Even a cheap interface will allow at least two tracks, or 'stereo'. The mixer can be used to say mic up a drum kit and still have that down to one or two tracks through the interface. But the interface will allow you to determine how the inputs are routed to the output(s). Then the rest is up to the recording software. You'll have to 'Add New Track' as many times as necessary, and by selecting which interface channel corresponds to the 'new' track, you should be OK. But your software will also have to configured. When you click on 'Add New Track' in Cubase, you look to the left for the inspector area. It will say something like Mono Input 1. If you click there, you will find a dropdown list of input channels so you can select a different one for each track. Another way is to press F4 and open the VST Connections menu. Choose the Inputs tab. Right click to create a new mono or stereo input. Next, at the far right, assign each track input to the corresponding input on your interface. The names at the left default to 'Mono Input 1', 'Mono Input 2', etc.

 

[charliep938]

Yeah I was looking at some interfaces but I wasn't really sure if they were necessary, are there any you recommend or do they all do the same job?.
Thanks for the response by the way

 

[michaelst]

Charlie...

Try panning the channels (the ones used for your mic input) on the mixer to hard left, and hard right. See if they come thru the stereo line(out of your mixer) in to your PC as 'dual mono'.
You will have significant bleed if both mics are open in the same environtment. But its a start.

 

[charliep938]

Charlie...

Try panning the channels (the ones used for your mic input) on the mixer to hard left, and hard right. See if they come thru the stereo line(out of your mixer) in to your PC as 'dual mono'.
You will have significant bleed if both mics are open in the same environtment. But its a start.

Just tried that and it seems to work quite well thanks a lot. I think I'll still look into getting an interface just to improve the sound quality though