Recording using guitar and microphone.

darrenjohnkentell wrote on 2/2/2013, 5:53 AM

Hi John, thanks again for your invaluable information and advice.

Unfortunately - I am still having problems getting any sound on the MMM arranger from my guitar and microphone. I have checked out the sound devises and drivers are switched on in my computers panel board,

they all seem to be working as they should. Which input on the computer would you recommend plugging the guitar and microphone in - the red one or the pink one, there seems to be a lot of confusion regarding this relativley simple process! I have several e-mails pertaining to this matter - they all seem at a lose!

If you could advice - kind regards - Darren.

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 2/3/2013, 8:34 AM

Hi Darren

I must admit that initially I was a little confused about the Pink and Red sockets !!

I presume the red socket is on the front of your PC - is this connected to the motherboard inside?

The sockets on the rear should be (as a minimum) pink or red, green and blue. If you have surround sound then you may also have black, orange and white or grey sockets as well.

The assignment of the colours is normally

Pink/red - input for microphone and should not be used for higher signal level sources eg audio out from a keyboard

Green - output for stereo speakers/headphones

Blue - Line in normally input used for higher signal level sources eg audio output from a keyboard or guitar pre-amp - see ** below

Any other coloured audio sockets are normally assigned as outputs for the surround sound speakers.

** Confusion comes from the fact that some sound chips allow assignment of the sockets as input as well as outputs.

A guitar pickup can out a signal from ~100 milli volts (mv) to 800+ mv depending on the type and how you are playing, so I would try this in the blue socket, preferably through a pre-amp, so you have better control of the signal to avoid overload.

Depending on the microphone type the signal level can be much lower eg for a dynamic mic it can be ~1.5 mv. The pink/red input is designed for this kind of signal level, the exception being on some laptops which only have two audio sockets, and it is very easy to overload this input.

The image below shows the settings I have had to apply to my PC to get a decent recording level from a small dynamic mic.

HTH

John