nOOb with mixer having problems!

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Keith27

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Hey folks, Im having a bit of a problem here. Im using a Tapco 6 Channel Mixer 6306 that goes into the line in of my computer, Then one of the speaker outs goes back into the board so you can hear what was previously recorded.

My problem is that, Even tho the meter on the board is just barely reaching -4db. But the meter on my Cake Walk Home Studio are way into the red and are distorting like MAD!

I know most people are going to tell me to get a real sound card :( But Im not out to make quality recordings, just want some songs on cd.

Is there a certian level that everything should be set to? Especially on the computer? It seems to be really touchie, Almost as if the "Line in" Was amping the sound. Line in isnt suppose to be doing that!

Any information would be great. Thanks
 
Keith27 said:
Hey folks, Im having a bit of a problem here. Im using a Tapco 6 Channel Mixer 6306 that goes into the line in of my computer, Then one of the speaker outs goes back into the board so you can hear what was previously recorded.
Click to expand...
For one thing, the way you have your mixer patched is a problem. Bringing the computer output back into the mixer that way is setting up a feedback loop. Just have the laine out of the computer go directly to your monitoring system. You'll stiil be able to monitor play back while recording (or should be able to as long as the soundcard is full duplex no matter how you hook it up).
 
There is no feedback, The mixer allows you to seperate the signals so they dont cause feedback.

Any other ideas?
 
Try turning down the preamp gain on your mixer
 
keith. lovely province . new brunswick. you lucky person.
anyway. go to your windows mixer applet (volume control/recording applet),
and youll find your line in windows fader is up too high.
bring it down ...so that when recording your tracks you peak on the input monitoring in your recording software at -3db. peace.
 
haha thanks!

The gain is Waaaaaaaaay down, If it goes any lower it will be off.

Whats sad is, if i turn down the gain on the mixer it is too low to get anything usable. Im at a loss here.
 
if the tapco has an insert point on the mic channel..try that instead. sounds like your pushing too much level out the tapco to the sound card.
ALSO - MAKE SURE YOUR NOT COMING INTO MIC IN OF SOUND CARD.
this is a mistake some new folks make.
 
Thanks for all the help people

Nothing seems to work, If i turn the mixer down. its waaay to quiet on the computer.

Im guessing its my soundcard. Probably just cause is cheap.

Oh yeah im using the Line in. Good ol blue one!

Ill mention this too
Even if on Cakewalk, The meter goes almost to the red, its super quiet.
I also tried a diffrent program, same deal. So i guess it is my card.

Whats a good card, for someone who games/dvds/records/music alot?
 
My problem is that, Even tho the meter on the board is just barely reaching -4db. But the meter on my Cake Walk Home Studio are way into the red and are distorting like MAD!

Nothing seems to work, If i turn the mixer down. its waaay to quiet on the computer. ... Even if on Cakewalk, The meter goes almost to the red, its super quiet.
Click to expand...
Would it help to break this down into bite size pieces?
On one hand there seems to be no inbetween overload and too quiet. On the other what exactly does 'too quiet on the computer' mean. It play's back to low?
Wayne
 
The meter in cakewalk is the one you need to watch. what ever you have to do to make that read a good signal, do it. It sounds like you are confusing recording level with volume.
 
Sorry

What im trying to say is that, Everything is turned down real low already, and its still going into the red. If i turn it down more, to get it into the green, You cant hear it properly. It would be way to quiet and just a waste of a recording.

Yeah, Im watching the meter on cakewalk, but that isnt doing much at all.

I'm still thinking my line in is amping for some reason, do some do this?
 
Keith27 said:
Sorry
What im trying to say is that, Everything is turned down real low already, and its still going into the red. If i turn it down more, to get it into the green, You cant hear it properly. It would be way to quiet and just a waste of a recording.
Click to expand...
That's the puzzling part. My guess is that it is either already distorted before the A/D converter, or the Cake meter is true, but something is turning down the playback signal. A clue might be to ask, if you follow Cake's meter and record at normal level (not peaking), does the waveform display look normal, not tiny? (Does Home Studio have a db scale at the side of the track display? Watch out if that scale range is not set to 'nominal' (100%?). That may be able to zoom in/out on the display.)

I'm still thinking my line in is amping for some reason, do some do this?
Click to expand...
If you can verify the above -forget distorted or not for a moment, with all the Cake track settings (trim, fader, at 'zero' - no boosts, cuts or plugs anywhere), the play back meter should show about the same level as the record meter did.
If that pans out ok but it's distorted, the problem is back in the analog levels going in.
Wayne
 
Hope I understood that correctly.


If I record and its too quiet, the waveform is really small. If i turn the gain/volume back up in the mixer to make the waveform larger/normal. It gets distorted.

Is that what you mean?

Should I try, turning the gain waaaay down on the mixer and turning it up on the computer?

Thanks again people!
 
"If I record and its too quiet, the waveform is really small. "
Given what I said above, if all that is true, about the meters, display, volumes on the cake track all lining up and agreeing on the level in the program, then look at the analog ends.


"If i turn the gain/volume back up in the mixer to make the waveform larger/normal. It gets distorted. Should I try, turning the gain waaaay down on the mixer and turning it up on the computer?"

Which mixer? Cake or Tapco? Maybe the recording is ok, but the playback is distorting the tapco?
Get the cake test done, then take the next step.
 
Test the sound card first

Test each piece of the system one at a time. Start with the sound card. If you have a CD player, or something else with a line-out, plug that into the soundcard's line-in (take the mixer out for now). In Cakewalk, select the sound card's line-in as the input source, arm your track for recording. With the CD player not playing anything, the Cakewalk meter should be blank (if the card's line-in is noisey, you might see a little movement on the meter). Now play something from the CD player. You should see some movement in the Cakewalk meter. Use the line-in fader on the Windows Mixer to adjust the input until you get the meter to be at about -3db. If you can't, get this to work, then you have a sound card problem. If you can, then the problem is not your sound card.
 
I am going to try that test.

I am not away of a mixer in cake? Everything is set at 0, volume and trim.


If I turn down, either mixer! Windows or my Tapco. The recording is too quiet to even bare.

If i turn things up just a tad to make it audiable...its distorted out the waaazoo.
 
What are your monitors monitoring? Do you have a separate control for the monitors that doesn't effect the record level?
 
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