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Dell Audio: Line In (Questions)
Hello, I am a musician, and an amateur "sound engineer".
I will be playing in a musical and it's my responsibility to map/organize all sound and mixes.
As I was talking to the musical's director, I gave him the idea of recording the musical from the mixer.
"Three" thoughts came to my mind:
1- Use my Behringer UCG102 to record the sound coming from the mixer.
2- Record the sound of the mixer directly to my Dell Inspirion I14 5458 A40
1 & 2- Use my PC and another, recording one channel on my Dell, and the Behringer on the another.
I was wandering if the line in jack (with the line in choice) of Dell Inspirion I14 5458 A40 could handle the signal of a mixer. Could it handle or should I stick with thought 1?
Will the signal from the mixer (it has AUX SEND, Group Out, Monitor Out, Phone Out and 2 Stereo Line Out) be distorted/ruined, damage my sound card or be well recorded?
I pretend - if it doesn't destroy my PC or ruin the sound itself - to use the audio coming out from the Stereo Out TRS P10 output using a TRS P10 P2 cable.
Disclaimer: The mixer is a Yamaha MG206C. It DOES NOT HAVE a USB output to use on a recording program (even though there is model which has one).
Behringer UCG102 captures only the left channel (input), as it also only plays the left channel (output).
Also, pardon my interface, as I do not have the budget to buy another or exchange.
Jim Coates
4 Operator
4 Operator
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July 24th, 2017 06:00
Hello. I don't have any of that equipment so can't say from personal experience, but here are my thoughts for what it's worth.
You said it captures the left channel, but if you get an adapter you can combine the 2 channels from the mixer into a single signal. It will be mono, but will contain both channels.
To the best of my knowledge, the input section of the combo jack (the audio jack socket) of your laptop only supports a mono microphone. If correct, that means that it has the same issue as the Guitar Link -- you will only get a mono recording, and you might have to use an adapter to capture both channels. You can test it by recording some stereo audio, and checking to see whether or not you have captured both channels.
I don't believe the combo jack has the actual contacts to be a true line-in jack. The software choice called "line in" possibly just turns off the microphone pre-amp. I don't actually know what it does.
Whether or not you select "line in", you don't have to worry about harming the combo jack circuit if you test it carefully. Turn the Yamaha mixer's output all the way down. Connect it to the laptop's combo jack. Open your recording software and enable its meters. (If your program lacks meters, use Audacity which has them.) Arm a track for recording. Gradually turn up the mixer's output until the recording meter approaches 0 decibel, about minus 3 to -6 dB. At that point you can record the signal. It won't hurt the laptop and the signal won't be distorted.
Sure. if you have 2 laptops and neither has a stereo line-in, you could record the left channel on one and the right channel on the other.
If you happen to have a portable recorder, it would be a lot simpler to make the recording on that, then transfer the tracks into your computer at a later time.