mixer to computer mic jack

[scorpionldr]

ok long story short, for some reason the quality of my analog recorder makes the mixer into the mic jack on my computer sound like crap. how do i set up a mixer to go into a computer? i'll be recording through "sound recorder" on windows

 

[ADbassman]

From my experiences, anything recordered through windows sound recorder isn't good to sound good. If you're looking for some decent freeware software, look up Audacity.

 

[seanm]

Try using the line in rather than mic.

 

[scorpionldr]

ok,on the side of my laptop i see three 1/8 jacks. from left to right i'm seeing a microphone (obviously), then i see this thing that looks like two sound waves with an arrow pointing left (like this (((<-))) cept with the arrow going through teh right into the center), and then a head phone jack. do i want to use the middle one?

also, is audacity virus free? i keep going to download.com to hear that people get their machines screwed up from using it. i can't afford to lose this machine, it's my lifeline

 

[seanm]

The middle one sounds right. They should be colour coded. The line in is blue.

 

[scorpionldr]

now that i think about it, line out is supposed to mean that everything you play will come throu the speakers, isn't it? i'm trying to avoid making the speakers explode, as we are a very bass relying band.

 

[seanm]

now that i think about it, line out is supposed to mean that everything you play will come throu the speakers, isn't it? i'm trying to avoid making the speakers explode, as we are a very bass relying band.

Line in and line out are seperate. You can control each independantly with the computers mixer app.