I too have recording problems-please help!

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

I too have recording problems-please help!

Hi everyone

I have just started using Traktor Scratch Duo and am using an HP G62 laptop (3months old) with an Audio 4 soundcard and a DDM4000 Behringer mixer and 1210’s

I was gutted to realise that there is no recording feature in Duo I mean wtf!! Traktor 3 has it so I assumed that Duo would, whoops! :confused:

Anyway to try to get over the problem I downloaded Audacity and hoped to record from the mixer. I have taken the LINE OUT via red and white phonos from the back of the mixer and using a splitter am plugging it into the Mic jack in my laptop. I have read that you shouldnt use the Mic input but I’m not sure I have any other options. Its recording but playback is distorted and sounds like the sound from a club when your standing outside. It seems to me that the level is too high going into the recorder.

On the back of my mixer there is only a main out and a tape out option no record out or booth out so I have tried changing the volume out output on the mixer but it doesnt help the quality.I am hoping that a bright spark can illuminate me on how I can optimise the quality?

Within the laptop software “recording devices” options I can see that there is an option for “microphone” and one for “stereo mix” when I go into “stereo mix properties” I can see there is no information next to the jack option, when I do the same for the “microphone” it shows me that there is a ATAPI internal ATAPI jack. Is this the Mic Jack on the side of the laptop that I am using? I am assuming that it is.If so then I’m also assuming that when I plug into to the mic jack that the laptop is using “microphone” and not “stereo mix”
Is there a way of using “stereo mix” even if I dont have a jack for it? I’m wondering whether there is anyway of using USB? Other connection options on my laptop are HDMI and RJ-45 network jack

Ok so thanks for bearing with me this far, what I need to know is:-

  1. Is the problem with the sound likely to be from within the Traktor preferences, if so how can I check?
  2. If its due to using the mic input on the laptop coupled with the out on the mixer, is there anything I can do to improve it
  3. How do you know which sample rate, latency to use for your system within Traktor?
  4. When setting audio latency within Traktor you have the options to change USB and Audio buffer size what does this do and how do you pick the right one?
  5. I’m assuming that the sample rate should be the same for traktor and audacity?

If you know anything about any of the above I would be really grateful to hear from you:slight_smile:

Thanks for reading!

Anuone remember the good old days when all you had to worry about was blowing the speakers?

Charlie

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Buy an interface!

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Was that meant to be helpful?

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Hmm…started out that way.

Mic & line levels are different frequencies hence the poor sound. So to answer q1 & q2 - the problem is not with Traktor preferences and there isn’t anything you can do to improve it (aside from buy an interface).

Sample rate literally means how many times the wave file is sampled per second. The higher the rate the more accurate the sample which is why sample rate is generally referred to as quality. The other half is bit rate. It’s more about responsiveness/ range. Click here to read more. Point with this stuff is about the delay between the original signal and the sound. Your cpu, your interface your using and your settings with your sample rate affect this. The way I see buffer size is a way to reduce latency. The higher you set it the more it drains your cpu and can affect the audio.

Re Q5.

A tape cassette of a radio show then digitalized and mastered at 48k bits is just going to be a sh***y copy made at a high resolution. Think of your target audience and master according. For example MP3 files are compressions of 48k wave files. If you’re uploading to the net then 48k would be overkill.

Buy an interface but remember 16k/ 24k in degrades your expectant output of 48k so spend $40 more!!

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Thats great, thanks for the reply :slight_smile: