How to record a mix from your Vinyl set up

[HonneyZouka]

Hi DJ Forum fam,

Hope everyone is spinning ok :p

Silly question surely, maybe not from a beginner like me. Could not find any relevant topic on that subject from the search.

So how to record a mix from your two turntables and your mixer? I've got one Technics SL1210, one Audia Technica and one Numark mixer. The question is, what do I need to record a mix from that set up? How and with what cables I plug my laptop to my mixer and obviously what software would you recommend for the recording part. I see loads of ppl talking about external sound card. Does the one already in my laptop will do the trick?

So yes, if you guys were kindly enough to let me know how you record your vinyl mixes to later on upload them online, that would be awesome. Can I push the vice far enough asking as well if you have any tricks and tips when it comes to record a mix from your vinyl set up? Do you go straight for a full mix session and hopefully don't make any transition mistake during it, or do you kinda record it bits after bits and put them together at the end to have something more 'clean'.

Can't wait to read from you, thanks guys!

Much luv.

[efinque]

So how to record a mix from your two turntables and your mixer? I've got one Technics SL1210, one Audia Technica and one Numark mixer. The question is, what do I need to record a mix from that set up? How and with what cables I plug my laptop to my mixer and obviously what software would you recommend for the recording part. I see loads of ppl talking about external sound card. Does the one already in my laptop will do the trick?

You need a cable from the mixer to the laptop, basically an aux cord (RCA-3,5mm) should do the trick. As for software Audacity is free and used by many for this particular purpose. You could use an external sound card too, or a SD card pocket recorder.


So yes, if you guys were kindly enough to let me know how you record your vinyl mixes to later on upload them online, that would be awesome.

I use Audacity on a separate studio computer to record mixes these days and upload them to Mixcloud.


Can I push the vice far enough asking as well if you have any tricks and tips when it comes to record a mix from your vinyl set up? Do you go straight for a full mix session and hopefully don't make any transition mistake during it, or do you kinda record it bits after bits and put them together at the end to have something more 'clean'.

I've heard of people tidying up their mixes afterwards but I personally do very simple post-processing such as normalizing. I used to draw gain envelopes with Audacity to make the overall volume during transitions more consistent but have given up on that since.

[HonneyZouka]

Hi Efinque,

Thanks a lot for your message, that helps really.

Would it works if I plug an aux cord (RCA-3,5mm) from my mixer to the mic jack port of my computer? He is fairly recent and should handle the process I'd say. Or do I need some external soundcard as well?

Cheers!

[efinque]

Would it works if I plug an aux cord (RCA-3,5mm) from my mixer to the mic jack port of my computer?

Exactly.


He is fairly recent and should handle the process I'd say. Or do I need some external soundcard as well?

With an external soundcard you'll most likely get lower latency and possibly better sound quality but I think a lot of people record their sets with whatever integrated/inbuilt sound card they have at their disposal (most integrated ones are crap for studio use but do fine with recording sets)

It's another thing if you already have one though for music production, I wouldn't personally buy one just for set recording.

[KLH]

With an external soundcard you'll most likely get lower latency and possibly better sound quality but I think a lot of people record their sets with whatever integrated/inbuilt sound card they have at their disposal (most integrated ones are crap for studio use but do fine with recording sets).
The integrated sound interface within almost all computers is seriously cheap. As such, it's susceptible to the computer's internal noise from the CPU, video interface, and hard drive - which makes the recordings noisy. On top of that, most computers now only have a mono input on their integrated sound interface - because who records music on a computer nowadays?

I highly recommend getting a USB sound interface (even a dirt cheap one is better than the internal interface) if you're going to record. Better yet, get a stand-alone recorder or use your phone.

[HonneyZouka]

Hi Team,

Thanks a lot for those clarifications. It helps again :)

@KLH, what do you mean by use your phone? Can you explain little bit further how do you use yours for recording purposes ?

Have a good one lads

[efinque]

@KLH, what do you mean by use your phone? Can you explain little bit further how do you use yours for recording purposes ?

I think he means you'd plug a 3,5mm cord to your phone (from the mixer) and use it as a pocket recorder with a suitable app.. I personally have no experience in doing so, although I've done field recordings with iPhone's built-in mic.