Members Brian Colmery Posted August 17, 2009 Members Share Posted August 17, 2009 During a church service we use a Yamaha MG2414FX as well as a mac laptop to provide both music (from iTunes) and recording of the sermon (into Garageband). It's pretty simple - we run a cable from the headphone out on the laptop to channel 14 on the mixer, and we run a cable from the Aux 1 Send on the mixer to the input on the laptop. The problem is that if iTunes is still playing on the laptop, it will record into garageband -- even when it's Aux 1 knob is turned all the way down. We've ruled out a computer issue, so we're left with the mixer. I've tried other channels as well, same thing. Any of you have any idea what's going on? Anything will help. Thanks in advance,Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dark Ice Posted August 18, 2009 Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Right, in your recording mixer controls on your computer, you have different sources which you can choose to record or not. Dump everything except the microphone in (or whatever you're using to record). Different sound cards handle this differently, some i've had will record whatever sound is playing on the computer unless you tell it not to. Some wont record anything thats being played on the computer. You get into the recording mixer from the drop down menu in the volume mixer in XP and previous, and in Vista and newer...to be honest I'm not too sure they've really screwed up this feature in newer versions of windows. The only way I can see is to right click on the speaker, choose recording devices and remove anything that you dont want to record. I'm not patronising you by the way. I know you state "We've ruled out a computer issue" but I've been doing computer support a long time, and you wont believe the amount of times I've heard that and that turns out to be exactly the source of the problem. Unless you've tried recording with an entirely different device from the laptop you're playing iTunes from and replicated the fault, you havn't ruled out the computer issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dark Ice Posted August 18, 2009 Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Oooh also, in the recording mixer, sometimes not all the devices are shown by default. In the recording mixer screen you'll need to go to the drop down menu that lets you select devices, tick ALL of them and put all the sliders down to 0 except the input you want to record. Sorry I dont have an XP machine in front of me to guide you exactly. If you cant find it tell me exactly what version of windows you're running and I'll try my best to guide you through it. If you're on a mac or linux or something I'm sorry I *cant* help you. But dont rule out the computer issue because this sounds like a textbook case of computer's internal audio routing to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Colmery Posted August 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Hey, any help will be appreciated! And after I posted I realized we needed to try it with a completely different device. But I'm working with OSX, not windows, and in the Sound section of System Preferences, there's only an option to record from the "line in" or the "internal mic." When everything is plugged in, you get signal in Garageband from iTunes even when the Aux is turned down on it's channel. But when things are unplugged, and you do the same thing, you get no signal in Garageband. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members swamp1 Posted August 18, 2009 Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Do you have Aux 1 set to prefader or postfader? I'm guessing you have it set to pre and you need it set to post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dark Ice Posted August 18, 2009 Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Ok, this is interesting. It could still be a computer thing, recording from an inernal source but recording only being 'armed' when somethings plugged in. You can experiment with a cable plugged into nothing to see if thats the issue. Another idea, check every menu you possibly can in garageband, and see if you can find a recording input source. Im sorry I'm not familiar with garageband. what happens when you turn down the AUX1 master volume, as opposed to the AUX1 send on the channel strip? Also, when you MUTE the channel the laptops going into, does it still come back into the laptop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Colmery Posted August 18, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Thanks guys, this is good advice. If I recall correctly, when we turn down the master Aux out, the problem persists. The Mute is a better question, that one I'll have to try this Sunday. As for the pre- and post-fader, I'm not sure if that's the issue. Regardless of what the actual fader is set at, I thought that an Aux knob turned all the way down would send no signal to that bus. Am I wrong on that one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted August 18, 2009 Members Share Posted August 18, 2009 Check the playback output mixer on the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Colmery Posted September 4, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 4, 2009 Okay, so it's definitely the computer! (It seems like my troubleshooting skills get worse each year...). The problem is that I have no idea how to access the audio routing in OSX! I went through all the garageband and system pref options (there aren't many) last Sunday, and none of them worked. In a pinch we could run music off of a different device, but sending iTunes and recording on the same computer is working really well right now. Does anyone know how to access the audio routing options on a Mac so the iTunes wouldn't get recorded into garageband? (Or maybe this belongs in a different forum?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dogoth Posted September 6, 2009 Members Share Posted September 6, 2009 I know that in a standard windows control panel, when you're in the recording source section, you can only choose one source at a time. One of these sources is labeled "what you hear". Make sure that is not the chosen source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monkeyland Posted September 6, 2009 Members Share Posted September 6, 2009 did you check the input list within garageband. not in the preferences but the actual software mixer section. it's been a while since i've used garageband but i can probably check it out when i get home this evening for a bit. what version of GB and OSX are you running? it would be helpful to know if it matches up with mine since they made some pretty big changes early on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Colmery Posted September 7, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 7, 2009 Thanks for the help -- I'm running Garageband 08 (4.1.2) and Leopard 10.5.8. I tried using the options in Garageband's preference pane - you can choose between "System Setting," "Built-in Microphone," or "Built-in Input." On all three of those settings, Garageband would record whatever iTunes was playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monkeyland Posted September 7, 2009 Members Share Posted September 7, 2009 honestly man i'm not sure what it is thats wrong. i just did what you are trying to do on my personal computer and it worked just fine. set the "audio/midi" pref within garageband to input and output on the built in input/output. then setup a real instrument track with it's input set to "stereo 1/2" or one of the two mono inputs. i can hit play on my itunes and then record on garageband and nothing will get recorded in garageband that is not present at the selected input. i know that doesn't help with your situation but it does prove that it will work the right way. i would double check all of the settings and if that doesn't work take the computer down to the apple store. and see if they can help you sort it out. i'm saying that there is something going on on the mixer still. did you try another recording device yet to narrow that part down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brian Colmery Posted September 8, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 8, 2009 Yeah, it works for me too -- until everything is plugged in. Then everything goes crazy. I did try another device last Sunday, and there was no bleed into garageband, so it's not the mixer... thanks for putting in the time man, I really appreciate the help. I'll let you know if I can figure anything else out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members monkeyland Posted September 8, 2009 Members Share Posted September 8, 2009 Yeah, it works for me too -- until everything is plugged in. Then everything goes crazy. I did try another device last Sunday, and there was no bleed into garageband, so it's not the mixer... thanks for putting in the time man, I really appreciate the help. I'll let you know if I can figure anything else out! for the record i did not have anything plugged into the line in on the computer when i did my test. still you will get better results if you use another sound card just because the A/D conversion will be better. even something simple like an m-audio fast track would probably work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Balladeer Posted September 8, 2009 Members Share Posted September 8, 2009 For the future, I'd recommend getting hold of a gadget like the Edirol UA-25. We use that in church to connect the mixer to a Mac powerbook for exactly the same reasons. The laptop just needs a single USB link into the Edirol box, which will work for both play and record. The edirol will than let you have 2 balanced channels for input and output (although using a single AUX out is fine). Just make sure you are not routing the playback channel to the outgoing AUX. Sound quality is excellent and you don't have the dodgy connection that the 3.5mm headphone jack can give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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