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Wanna record a mix for the first time... How should i set it up and what program is the best to record into? (I'm guessing Audacity?)

If it makes any difference my setup doesnt go through an amp, straight through active speakers.

Thanks for the help!

You need to get a cable from the record out on you mixer to the line in on your computer (if you have a standard onboard sound card then this cable would more than likely need to be a phono to mini stereo jack cable). Audacity will record just fine if you want to use that, it's a perfectly good free piece of software more than capable to do that.

Next you need to go into your soundcard settings (or windows mixer controls) and make sure that the soundcard record mixer is set to record from the line in that you are connected to (best to mute all other inputs).

Finally set you levels, you can do this by recording a bit in Audacity and watching levels/the waveform, play the loudest bits of a few records and make sure it not clipping out...when you're happy, start to record.

I hope that helps but the settings will vary depending on what soundcard you have so I can't really go into much more details without probably wasting yours or my time. Let me know if there are any specific questions though.

need a phono to 3.5 jack. plug it into record out then the 3.5 into your mic socket of pc/laptop. Use audacity and fiddle with the gains / eq so it's not too loud etc etc

about the levels i'd say it's safer to record at low levels, which u can still make up for later than trying to record as loud as possible and have your mix clipping on the hardest/loudest parts

dfaultuzr wrote:about the levels i'd say it's safer to record at low levels, which u can still make up for later than trying to record as loud as possible and have your mix clipping on the hardest/loudest parts

That depends on how much noise there is, if you have any hums or anything from any equipment then we you turn it up later you'll turn the noise up too. If you have a decent soundcard & mixer that shouldn't be a problem but built in soundcards are often noisy.

yeman my soundcard makes a terrible hum, thankfully a&h have blessed me with a USB. crystal clear recordings!

I know it's cheating, but a nice trick for you.

If you fuck up a mix badly, just put back the needle a bit till before a break, then mix again. That way you can do it over, and you can cut up the result (paste from the break). So it seems like a flawless mix while actually you did it in 2 takes

It's hard to not get frustrated if you want to record the perfect mix, especcialy if you fuck up about an hour into the mix. This helps

It's hard to not get frustrated if you want to record the perfect mix, especcialy if you fuck up about an hour into the mix. This helps

Worst. Feeling. Ever.

I almost punched the cat once. Nice tip, Mr tiddles will be pleased.

does anyone else have a problem where the audio will randomly drop out and go very quiet and then randomly start clipping?

GreenWaffle wrote:does anyone else have a problem where the audio will randomly drop out and go very quiet and then randomly start clipping?

Sounds like a Soundcard issue, check the settings.

Audacity is fine to use. I wouldn't record into a 3.5mm jack though, you really want to be going into an audio interface using phonos or 6mm jacks. Levels-wise, i'd find the loudest you can go without clipping then bring it down a few dB to give a bit of headroom. You can then use a limiter afterwards to bring it up if necessary. Finally i'd save it as a WAV straight after recording before doing anything to it, then if you fuck up you've still got the original audio.

Problem is I will find a certain volume and input volume and it'll sound good for a minute or so then the tiniest eq change fucks it up or even nothing at all
But yeah I'll try out some of your suggestions though

Edit: Great news! I found the problem, turns out my laptop has some programme called smart audio or something which was messing with the recording, turned it off and the recordings sound fine now

are you on windows? i remember some 'noise reduction' option was set on by default, it reduced noise so efficiently you couldn't have a normal skype convo, cause ot cut out the audio. took my a while til i figured it out haha

Yeah, that's exactly what it was