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Record audio with only mic and headphone jacks

post #1 of 5
3/29/08 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 
Hi

I'm hoping someone here can help me.
I have a Lenovo/IBM z60m which only has jacks for microphone and headphones.
I would like to record my vinyls onto cd through my stereo amplifier, but if I plug the tape rec signal into my microphone jack the signal is way too strong - am I doing something wrong and/or is there something different I could do???

Thanx in advance,
Anders
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post #2 of 5
3/29/08 at 3:51pm
Most microphone jacks also have a gain control, you need to turn the gain control down as there is a large difference between a line level signal(What you are likely giving it) and a mic level signal(What it is designed to take).

Look in your audio panel, make certain all controls are enabled, and see if you have one for input/gain. I assume you are on Windows?

Seablade
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post #3 of 5
3/29/08 at 11:50pm
You can fix the signal level difference with an attenuator such as the one Radioshack sells. The other problem is the Mic In jack likely is mono, which there's no easy fix for.
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post #4 of 5
3/30/08 at 12:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by olyteddy View Post
You can fix the signal level difference with an attenuator such as the one Radioshack sells. The other problem is the Mic In jack likely is mono, which there's no easy fix for.
Yes but LPs in general had much better Mono compatibility IIRC. Trying to find good technical information on the cutting of stereo LPs but having problems at the moment. One thing I have found suggests an approach that reminds me a lot of M/S recording, but I am thinking there is much more to it than that. I came in at the end of the era, so while I had records I played as a kid, I never had to deal with recording onto them, had cassette for that As a result my knowledge is probably not what it should be in as far as the technicalities of the format.

In general though, as long as they can reduce their gain, I have found the mic jacks on MOST laptops(Not all) do not require the attenuator as they have enough gain control internally to do so. The advantage to this is much better gain structure, resulting in less noise overall, than inserting an attenuator externally, so if possible I would reccomend to the OP to try to do it in the laptop settings first, and if needed go with an external attenuator(or pad as they are also known).

Seablade
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post #5 of 5
3/31/08 at 1:22pm
Thread Starter 
Thanx for replying - as you correctly guessed I'm on windows (xp).
I only have 4 controls available for recording (I'm on a danish version of xp, so I'll try to translate them):
Mic, cd-player, mono out & stereomix

I've tried fiddling with them but as far as I can see/hear it doesn't give me an acceptable level.
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