Karaoke Forums

Hi all,

Not strictly a newbie to club scene, but have been out for a good few years and was in a band then. I've been asked to play a couple of solo cabaret type gigs, then i'm looking to branch out as a KJ. My gear is a Mackie DF-X 6 mixer, a pair of Phonic PA550 power amp speakers, my songs are in cd+g and Mp3+g format on my (very old) Dell laptop, I have to put the sound from the laptop through an external Creative soundblaster 16 bit card, as the only output from the laptop is via headphone out (and it only has one USB port). Hope your still with me and I haven't bored you to tears yet they have asked me if I can get them some recorded material so my questions are, can I, and if yes how do I set this system up for decent recording of a mini set? Also any suggestions on the best type of song hosting software for these type of gigs? Any ideas/thoughts, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all
Seecee[/list]

Have you taken a look at the manual for your DFX-6 yet, Mackie includes some really easy to follow hook-up drawings. Here's the gist though.

Main Out Left & Right to the Input 1 on each speaker via XLR Mic Cables
Headphone out to Channel 5/6 L&R Inputs via 1/8" to 1/4" Y cable
Mics to channels 1&2 via XLR Mic Cables

Recordings will come from Tape Out RCA jacks to whatever recorder you intend to use.

_________________
DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Hi Letitrip,

Yes unfortunately manual lost some time ago, but thanks very much for the info

http://www.mackie.com/pdf/dfx_om.pdf

That should help.

_________________
DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

When you say, "they have asked me if I can get them some recorded material" you mean, they'd like a recording of someone singing a song with a backing track or whatever is coming out of your mixer?

If so, that's cake.

On the back of the DFX-6 are two RCA jacks labeled 'Tape Out'.. this is the same signal as the 'Main Out' that you feed to your speakers, except it's at what they call 'line level' in volume.

I regularly record some of my better singers at shows to upload to my website, or even play in between singers on slow nights.

To record on your laptop, you can use the FREE Audacity software available here:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

There ought to be some kind of Mic input on your external SoundBlaster device.. if not, score a Behringer U-CONTROL UCA202 USB-Audio Interface.. they work great, sound great, and Musicians Friend sells 'em for $30!

Musicians Friend link

Just use a set of common stereo RCA patch cables to go direct from your mixers TAPE OUT to the INPUT of the UCA202 and record away!