Move to laptop

[raymond.faccini]

You will realise that we are not the beat sound technicians in the world, but we in our small armature theatre group want to come more up to date and replace our c.d. player for a laptop .We have the laptop and we are trying to run this through a Behringer 1000 mixer desk by running an audio lead from the earphone socket on the laptop to the audio line in on the mixer .the sound quality was awful we are obviously doing something very wrong, What do we need between the two .Can somebody please advise and help us with this problem

Look forward to any help and advice that anybody can give but please try to keep it in simple terms.

 

Thanks in advance

.

[pjrails]

Hi

It sounds as if you were going into the wrong input but what you need is one of these My link and then you can output the laptop to a line input on your mixer.

That should cure your problem.

 

HTH

PJ

[Simon Lewis]

A typical mistake to make is to use a mini 3 pole jack to 1/4" 3 pole jack lead, and to plug the 1/4" jack into the line input on the desk. If you do this, you will lose most of the signal that is panned to the centre of the music mix.

If you have done this, you need either a mini jack to two 2 pole jack lead (see below) or you could use the USB interface described in the post above. If you haven't made this cable mistake, and it is general poor sound quality you are experiencing, then the USB sound card route is worth exploring, as well as ensuring you have ripped your sources at a suitable rate?

 

http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mK_Ka92eFbojUog7R2blGmg.jpg

 

[timsabre]

Another possibility if the sound problem is a buzzing or whining is that you need to isolate the ground using a DI box. You can check this by running the laptop on battery and disconnecting the mains supply, if that fixes it then you need to use a DI box.

[TonyMitchell]

If you want a quick, driverless solution on a budget, these are pretty good:

http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/14176-interface-usb-22-XLR-av17492.html

 

There used to be an XLR and a TRS version, I preferred the latter (now discontinued), as it eliminates the risk of sending 48v phantom up it.

 

Of course you can spend a lot more and get a full featured multi-channel Motu, Focusrite, etc unit. But for what you've described, the sound quality you will get for your £33 will be better than any mini jack output.

[Jivemaster]

Why a laptop? It costs more and it isn't better.

 

If you must get from laptop to audio try this USB External Sound Box Maplin Product Code: A56AK Currently for £15 it saves all the issues with ground loops power hum and red noise and gives you a good level for line or head phone.

 

If you are an am dram group keep the technology out! the next person may not be able to use it properly.

[alistermorton]

What's it being used for? If it's just background music, then I'd maybe stick with what currently works, but if it's for sound FX then I can see why a move to a laptop might be attractive, it being marginally easier to start and stop sound tracks by picking then from a list than by moving to a track on a CD player, even without going to the complexity of dedicated cueing software.

[Oldradiohand]

Definitely a fan of the Behringer interface - cheap and cheerful and it works. Other advantages are the ability to source music and sound fx online, ease of editing (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ is free and quite powerful) and ease of playout (http://www.matti.co.uk/coolplay/ is also free and is designed for the job).

Total outlay less than £30 plus any old laptop/PC and it's not overly difficult to set up and use. Another £30 and you can build an interface box so that playing in is a simple matter of hitting a Big Friendly Button.

[Just Some Bloke]

It's a big +1 from me for the cpc USB - XLR box. We use them at work and I use one in my duo for playing back backing tracks (when the client can't afford a proper band!). Well worth the money.

[bruce]

The CPC interface is fine - but I'll repeat Tony's warning, from personal experience. Make sure you don't plug it into an input which has phantom power enabled! I did, and something got fried.

[PeterT]

The CPC interface is fine - but I'll repeat Tony's warning, from personal experience. Make sure you don't plug it into an input which has phantom power enabled! I did, and something got fried.

 

Just as an Off-topic aside, is it worth then having a little black box that has XLR pass through and some big capacitors to act as DC blocking to avoid this?

 

I should think it could be made for a tenner from Maplins.

[Jivemaster]

One important thing to remember is that some of your am dram group will be technology averse and not comfortable with computer everything and some will not be able to reconfigure networks. In am dram you rely on volunteers and the skills they bring with them.

[Oldradiohand]

Can't see why you'd want to reconfigure a network for a standalone PC! There's usually a few computer literates in any tech group and, once set up, the playout is usually a case of hitting the spacebar on cue. If you can run a sound desk you can usually operate a PC......

[empyfree]

I swear by these:

 

http://interspaceind.com/audio-products/pc-bal-box-detail

 

They have Pad, mono/stereo, and earth/lift switches and are really robustly made.

[djmatthill]

Hi

It sounds as if you were going into the wrong input but what you need is one of these My link and then you can output the laptop to a line input on your mixer.

That should cure your problem.

 

HTH

PJ

 

I`ll 2nd the Suggestion to get the Beringher UCA-222. Ive used two of these little boxes for years (infact I`m using one now to DJ in a 1800 capacity nightclub)

 

They are cheap little boxes that get the job done and are very reliable!

 

If you are a trade customer you can get these for £17 each ?

 

Get one you won`t regret it!

 

 

Matt