Recording Line In, possibly with Garage Band?

[frikk]

Hey everyone,
I recently purchased a macbook, and love it. One of the things I'd love to do is be able to record mixes that I make from the output of my Turntables / Mixer set up. I am very surprised at how hard of a time I am having with figuring out how to get Garage Band to accept a line in as an instrument. This seems like it should be obvious. When I add a new instrument, it just looks like it records from the microphone. If it is not possible to record from the line in port with Garage Band, then what free software can I use to record? Thanks!

Thank you!
Blaine

 

[swano]

Have you tried going into the system prefs under 'sound'? You can change the audio in options to either 'built in mic' or 'line in'. Garage band should 'see' your turntables. Also, when you make a new track try using different monitoring...I don't have the program in front of me but I know you can monitor left or right or both. I think, if I remember, its mono or stereo...blah..I can't remember. It should work though.

 

[frikk]

Thank you for the response.

I have been in the sound preferences, and the input levels increase when I play records, so it is definitely getting sound. The thing about garage band that make me suspiscious is this: If you go to track -> new track..., there are two options. 1. Software Instrument and 2. Real Instrument. The description for real instrument says something like "record a real instrument like a guitar or any instrument through microphone capture". I do not have it in front of me. When I add a real instrument, and turn monitoring on, all I do is hear myself and get a little feedback, since its coming in through the mic.

All I want to do is have my tables go in to my mac, record via garage band or a similar software package, and hear the sound out the speaker system thats connected to the mac. With the software "LineIn", I can do the latter part (I havent tried this yet). Maybe when you go into the real instruments after selecting the input as the line in (which I have done), there is an option somewhere to use that audio device? Unfortunately I dont know much about how garage band, or even mac audio devices, work.

Thank you!
Blaine

 

[quigleybc]

this is a fairly easy thing to accomplish..

so lets see

you got line out from your mixer to the "line in" on your Mac (you are using a mixer right?)

ok

then you've gone to system prefs> sound, and checked the input tab, you see the input level, and you have the slider all the way to the right, and you can see "sound" coming in when you play a record right?

I never understood why we can't just hear the line in at this simple stage, but whatever....

Next you open up GB

Create a new "real instrument" name it "turntables" or whatever...

then, you double click the track, turn on monitoring, and make sure it's at a high volume level..

At this point, you should be able to just click record, and hear your records...

????

good luck.

 

[quigleybc]

Also,

download and install this little app

it's a quick and simple recorder, so you can just make sure your records are going through your system properly, and it's an easy way to record from line in...

 

[frikk]

Thank you for both of your replies.

I will try this when I go home, it looks very promising. Thanks for the help. also, Audio Recorder looks sweet as well, I'll give that a try.

I'll post an update later tonight.