Mar 23, 2006 10:27 am one option www.homerecordingconnecti...tory&id=110
Behringer UB802 quick start !!
Posted on Mar 23, 2006 10:16 am
johnstbs
Member Since: Jul 27, 2004
hey can any one give me a quick start help on getting my new Behringer UB802 hooked up to my computer to record ?
i have a few leads, xlr, jack, and i have a soundcard in my computer..
ill have a mic plugged in to the mixing desk that looks simple enough to do, im just wondering what i plug in to the computers soundcard what outputs from the desk and what inputs to the comp !!
total begginer here!
thanks alot for any help.
john
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Mar 23, 2006 10:34 am what jacks to you have on your computer? If the sound card is built in, then I'd guess there's 1/8" mic in, and 1/8" line in. Don't use the mic in, as there's a preamp built into it, and it's usually crappy.
The line in will accept two signals, left and right. You'd want to get a cable that will connect the main out jacks on your mixer, to a single 1/8" stereo jack that plugs into your computer input.
I'm thinking that this will be 2 mono 1/4" jacks to (1) 1/8" stereo jack. Or, 2 RCA jacks to (1) 1/8" stereo jack.
If your mic is dynamic, not condensor, then you won't need phantom power.
Hope that helps.
Mar 23, 2006 10:37 am yeahh thanks !
so basicly im gona be having 2 jack leads from the mixer (main out L + R) in to a splitter then plug that one jack in to the "line in" on the soundcard??
john
Mar 23, 2006 10:38 am Yep.
If that's one 1/8" input, don't expect stellar performance, but yes, that is how I hooked up when I had an 802.
Mar 23, 2006 10:39 am yes ineeeeedeeeeeeee
Mar 23, 2006 10:40 am i suppose you get to post quicker than us as you being the head honcho and all dB :-)
Mar 23, 2006 10:41 am I see the posts quicker, they land in my inbox...and my career is online, so, well...you know...
Mar 23, 2006 10:43 am so infact your just being selective as to which questions you want to answer LOL
Mar 23, 2006 10:44 am Pretty much yeah, it's not like I have something to say to all of them...or have the time, byt the time I get time, somebody else has often already replied...and sometimes I'll shut the alerts off for a few days...
Mar 23, 2006 10:57 am im running cubase sx and the mixer is plugged in as asked now and the signal is only coming thru mono..
the channel on cubase is set to stereo but only one of the bars is getting signal through.
john
Mar 23, 2006 10:58 am Then the y cable is joining both signals to one, rather than both signal into a single, two conductor jack...the end jack that everything joined into must be a TRS to maintain the two signals.
Mar 23, 2006 11:00 am ahh ok .. so if i get a better sound card it is most like likely to have a L and R on the sound card as inputs??
john
Mar 23, 2006 11:10 am and is there any way of getting a stereo recording if i only have one line in on the soundcard??
john
Mar 23, 2006 11:24 am yes by panning one of your input mixers right and the other left. This should give you the stereo recording, assuming you have a stereo jack connector onto your rca cables and not a mono adapter
Mar 23, 2006 01:37 pm well im just going to get a better soundcard so i have the correct stereo but iv just set the channel on cubase to mono so i at least get it through both sides for the time being.
iv also changed the input from line in to the Mic socket as now i can record seperate tracks with out the other getting recorded over a new recording if you get me..?
plus im getting a better boost from the mic socket!
im only gona be recording acoustic guitar, vocals, and micing up my marshall for some distorted guitar.
john
Mar 24, 2006 11:05 am I'd suggest against using the mic in, as it will have a preamp built in. The preamp is 'preamping' your signal again, effectively giving it a boost.
Quick note of advice: Louder is not better, better is better, regardless of volume.
The problem, is that the preamping it's doing may be of quite low quality. Putting a few tracks together from this input may not sound as good as using the line in.
I'd find a way to make the line in work, as that's what it was made for.
Otherwise, if it's working for you, and you're happy, then more power to you =).
Mar 24, 2006 09:04 pm yeahh i see what you mean with using line in would just be using the mixers pre amp thats in it instead of the pre amp + the not so good one in the soundcard..
the only problem is that when i have it in the line in, i record a track, then when i come to record a seperate track the other one is getting recorded over awsel.. meaning what ever is coming out of the speakers is getting recorded !
the sound card softaware has a little mixer on screen and when the line in is plugged in i have to selcet line recording instead of mic recording.. or it wont record, but my prob is that above !! its anoying cos i cant think how to fix it !
how can i fix this problem !?!?
john
Mar 25, 2006 10:01 pm Selecting the line in to record is indeed correct, as you've figured out.
I know there was someone else on here a few weeks ago that had the same problem: trying to get the previous track to not record into the new incoming track.
I can't remember how that one got resolved. I'd say that usually, the output signal can be output back into the mixer, then have the mixer output to your monitor solution (headphone or speakers/amp). The small berry boards wire the circuits a little differently, so it's a little bit of a pickle.
I also hear there's a setting in soundblaster cards, that essentially says to record everything that's getting played by the sound card. This would include the incoming signal, and the outgoing signal. This would be a problem, and can be turned off for SB cards. Maybe your card has something similar.
Tell me how your speakers are hooked up (your monitoring solution). If they're on the mixer, then maybe you'll have to plug the monitoring solution into the soundcard's outputs directly.
Also, if your card can't separate the two signals (incoming and outgoing) when recording the new track, then it may be time for a real recording card. They can be had for 100$us or less. these will give you way better converters, plus be faster, plus let you record and monitor at the same time (though maybe not monitor through the 802).
Or, you could go back to using the mic in, if it's quality is good enough.
I'm looking for the circuit diagram (block diagram) now.
Mar 26, 2006 05:49 pm ahhh thanks alot.
well the sound card im using is a very cheap one.
not the orriginal onboard one but it is cheap.
my speakers are plugged in to the soundcard and the mixer is plugged in to the soundcard also.
im not sure if theres a "record everything that comes through the speakers" box checked in the soundcard software.
have any suggestions on a good soundcard, not too expensive but good enough?
im gona be buying some better speakers, will i plus these in to the soundcard still?..
whats the control room out sockets for on the mixer??
one more Q..
i have the channel gain nob, the channel leven nob and the main mix nob all turning to get signal, the signals fine im just asking is there any good way of getting the signal?.. which one needs to be the highest?..
john
Mar 26, 2006 05:50 pm o yeah and whats a banana lead for speakers?. how would i connect that?.. to the comp or to the mixer? turned in to a jack?
john
Mar 26, 2006 05:53 pm banana plugs are usually coming from the amp into the speakers...
Mar 27, 2006 11:10 am yeahh i see that from the computer needs to be plugged in to the amp then the speakers..
i dont have an amp..
suggest a small good one for my use?
do i really need one to use banana plug speakers?/
john
Mar 27, 2006 11:12 am I like Alesis reference amps, I use an earlier version of this www.homerecordingconnecti...RA150+Power+Amp
If you speakers have more than one type of jack, no, you don't need to use the banana plugs, my speakers only have that option, so that's what I use...yours may be different.
Mar 27, 2006 12:46 pm The channel knob is also known as 'gain' or 'trim'. This sets the amount of pre-amplification the preamp will do. The process of setting that amount is called 'gain staging' and is very important in getting the best signal to noise ratio (SNR).
When you gain stage, you should have the source make it's sound (singer singing, guitar playing, drummer drumming) at the loudest volume possible for the normal song to be recorded. When they're making sound, you set the gain knob up until it just starts to clip, then back it down a little, just in case the player/singer makes more volume then you expect.
The trick here is to set the gain high enough to get the most amount of pre-amp signal, but not so high as to clip your preamp when tracking. I usually go for less gain, to protect against an unwanted clip event. That can ruin a take, and tick off a bunch of people.
That's why the recording VU meters in some software packages will leave the clip indicator active, after you've clipped, so you know that a signal clipped somewhere in the tracking.
Once you get the gain set for each channel, leave them alone. This should be a once only type of operation.
Now the channel fader, this is for setting the volumes of each channel against each other. If you have 3 incoming signals, then you can set each channel volume (fader) so that they sound nice together. This will affect the level of your recording if you take signal from the main outputs.
The main mix fader, is for increasing and decreasing the whole mix together as one sound. This will also change your main output signal level.
In your case, with a UB802, first, I'd set the gain and leave them alone. Those shouldn't be thought of as volumes.
Then, set the channel fader somewhere around 0db or unity, and also, set the main fader around 0db. you can adjust these two (channel fader and main fader) to suit, but I wouldn't increase it much, as it may introduce more noise. I'd rather get a little bit weaker signal, and increase it's level in the software, where the increase may be more noise-free.
That last part may be hard to decide which is less noisy, the board faders, or inside the computer. I'll leave it up to you to figure that one out. It may not even be an issue.
maudio 2496 audiophile is a good 2 channel recording card. As is the ESI Juli@, also a 2 channel card. dB has been happy with the Juli@, with very low latency, but he had the maudio card before it, and liked it as well. Maudio makes solid stuff.
There's also the emu stuff, but I think they're more $$$. Don't go for a Soundblaster, as they're not made for recording, but for gaming and home audio stuff.
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