Carvin SB audio out

[sswilley]

New to Forum and New to Broadcasting live.

We are a small church with a CARVIN C3244 Sound Board with RCA out (no usb out) for recording. I have not been able to master getting audio out to easy capture device or dazzle, for input into computer along with video.

With all the options on this board I have not found the correct combination of settings. Any suggestions would be geatly appreciated

[Brad Weber]

There could be multiple factors involved, so let's address them individually.

Are you using the Tape Out RCA jacks on the Carvin mixer? The Tape Out jacks on that mixer appear to be the same signal going to the main left and right outputs and are split after everything including the master faders and EQ. That likely means that anything you do to affect the house mix (routing, level, EQ, effects and so on) also directly affects the recording mix. Since what you need or want for the house mix may differ from what you want for the recording mix that can make it difficult to get a good mix both in the house and for recording. So that could be one aspect to address, maybe doing something like using two of the monitors sends for recording instead of the Tape Outs and creating a separate recording mix.

How you are getting the audio into the computer could be another factor. Does the mixer output go into a microphone input on a sound card or into an external USB or FireWire audio interface or are you using some other approach? If you are running direct into a sound card then you may need to check some of the sound card related settings on the computer, such as adjusting levels. And if it's a microphone rather than line level input you may have to attenuate the signal level.

[sswilley]

Thank you for the advice. Gives me some more things to look at...

I am using the Tape out RCA jacks into a Dazzle (external a/v capture device) and going into my usb port from which I am getting NO sound levels. Also, I have tried plugging the RCA output from my SB, to a Y connector and went into my ext mic input on the computer. No luck with any sound transferred at either setup.

Tonight we have a prcactice so I will try coming out of 2 monitors and look at settings on my computer.

Will let you know if that works.

[Brad Weber]

Originally Posted by sswilley

I am using the Tape out RCA jacks into a Dazzle (external a/v capture device) and going into my usb port from which I am getting NO sound levels. Also, I have tried plugging the RCA output from my SB, to a Y connector and went into my ext mic input on the computer. No luck with any sound transferred at either setup.

Tonight we have a prcactice so I will try coming out of 2 monitors and look at settings on my computer.

If the issue is not getting any audio from the Tape Out into your capture device then changing connections on the audio mixer may not be the issue, but there may be some other things to look at.

First, because the Tape Out on your mixer is essentially the same thing as the main outputs, you won't get anything on the Tape Out unless you've also got signal going to the main outputs. If you have a small powered speaker or a boom box with a line input or anything like that you should be able to connect that to each of the Tape Out connections and verify if you are getting signal out of the mixer.

If you verify that you do have audio out of the mixer and still can't get it on the recording then while I am not familiar with the Dazzle or the software that comes with it, you may have to set the active audio device to be the Dazzle or adjust some settings either in the associated software or for the computer in general. For example, I found one post talking about having to go to the mixer control panel on the computer where they found a separate Pinnacle input that had to be turned up. People also seem to be having some problems with audio on Windows 7 machines, so if you're running Windows 7 you may want to make sure you have the latest drivers and software for the Dazzle.

[waynehoskins]

Does the mixer have a Tape Out knob? That would be the first place I'd look, to make sure there's actually audio on the line. After that, it's computer stuff. It's very possible to have problems in multiple places, so fixing A doesn't seem to help because B is also wrong.

[sswilley]

OK, I looked at all computer settings, which were fine. I did have sound on my main speakers, but not on the tape out. There are no obvious knobs.

I hooked to one spare monitor out and was able to get sound. I don't have another spare monitor output, but could I split another?

[Brad Weber]

As far as I can tell from the manual (http://www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/C2444U.pdf) the Tape Out connections, the upper of the two pairs of RCA connections with the lower ones being Tape In, are simply parallel outputs with the Main Left and Right, albeit unbalanced and at a slightly lower level. There does not appear to be any control or setting on the mixer that would normally result in output on the Main outputs but not on the Tape Out. So unless the issue is something as simple as connecting to the Tape In rather than Tape Out, then getting output on the Main outputs but not on the Tape Out outputs may indicate a problem with the mixer.

[wmmsaved]

Do your LED meters light up much (or at all) when sound is coming through your system? If the answer is no, adjust the L R levels until the LED's peak around "0" as you turn down your amplifier(s) to compensate. This should also increase the level going out to your recording device on "TAPE OUT." As another poster mentioned, you may have more than one problem in the path but, starting here and either adjusting your levels or verifying that they are already properly set will allow you to continue down the path.