Recording to laptops via mic input

  • Thread starter Thread starter helphelp
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helphelp

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Okay, here's the deal...

I bought a AMD XP2000+ laptop with 512MB RAM and a 40Gb hard-drive for recording with my copy of Cool Edit Pro.

Whilst recording through my external mic input, I get hard-drive noise even when the mic is switched off. The company I bought the computer from says that every laptop will get machine noise through this input.

Is this true? Or are they leading me up the garden path?

My computer is still in warranty, so I can exchange it if needs be.

(Thanks for your help! I really should have come to you guys before spending money calling the company's ridiculous helpline!)
 
The built-in mic input will never give you good music performance. Spoken voice, maybe, but not music. I strongly recommend you try to spring for something like a m-audio duo, or tascam US-122 -- both of which hook up to USB, and are pretty darn cheap. I like the 122 myself - it has phantom power for better microphones like the duo, but does not need any external power supply.

-lee-
 
These guys are correct. Almost any normal sound cars be it a laptop or not has a noisy mic input. The preamps are pretty cheap. Not to mention that is you are running a line level device into it then you are causing the preamp in the laptop to clip and distort, so the only way to go with a laptop is to get a usb card.
 
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