Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Audio Question

I have been trying to record a CD for my wife.  I bought a Scarlett 2i2 to mix guitar and microphone, and it works.  Then discovered all the microphones we had access to were mono.  I now have an Audio-Technica stereo mike.  Plugged into the Toshiba's line in, Audacity records stereo from it.  But a gender confusion problem means that I need to use a collection of 3.5mm to 1/4" jacks to plug the microphone into the XLR connector on the Scarlett.  Audacity only grabs mono input.  (I dare not photograph what I am using; the transgender crowd would be mortified.)  Is it possible that these plug adapters aren't stereo?

What's weird is that it appears the Toshiba has a built-in stereo mike.  With the Scarlett disconnected, and the stereo mike turned off, Audacity records my voice.

3 comments:

  1. If it is an Audio Technica mic intended for video, then the single 1/8" connector is a stereo connector with the signal for left on the tip, the signal for right on the next ring, and a shared common return for both on the longer sleeve of the conductive portion of the plug.

    To record stereo with the 2i2, you would want to separate the two signals (L & R) into two plugs for the two inputs of the interface.

    For reference, this is what such an adapter would look like:
    http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/YMP434?adpos=1o1&creative=54989267161

    There may be a step in Audacity to make it record a stereo "track" from the two inputs. (It's not software I use regularly.)

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  2. There are instructions here for using the 2i2 and the laptop's built-in mic-jack simultaneously with the Ableton software that came with your 2i2:

    http://www.noterepeat.com/articles/how-to/101-ableton-live-using-multiple-interfaces

    The same can be done in Audacity, but requires that you compile Audacity with ASIO support. I think you would find Ableton to be a bit less clunky than Audacity also.

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