Mircophone Problems
 

I am taking two sets of RCA cables into a single input in a receiver. One is an 1/8" to stereo RCA from the computer that music audio is coming from. The other is a stereo 1/4" to stereo RCA from a 4ch Behringer mixer, which is the mics. When the fed is just the RCA from the mixer the audio levels are normal. However when I use a dual RCA to mono RCA so that both signals can be in one input for the receiver the audio level of the mixer drops off dramatically. Any suggestions or other pieces of equipment that can be put in line to boost the level of the mixer. Thank you.

Your audio from the computer should be going to the mixer, not directly to your receiver/amplifier. Then the Left and Right output from the mixer will have both the audio and the microphones. That is what a mixer is for.
What model is your mixer?

Dale is correct, here is an example of how your audio setup should be:

Channel One (or any caennel you choose) - Get a cable (from Radio Shack) that has a Mini stereo plug on one end and goes to Left and Right Male Phono plugs. Then get a 1/4" (plug) to Left And Right Female Phono plugs adapter. (Two things, a cable and an adapter.)

Plug the 1/4 mini into the sound card output (or the headphone jack) and plug the left and right male phono plugs into the female left and right pulgs on the adapter. Then plug the 1/4" adapter and plug it into channel one on your mixing board.

Channels Two and Three - Your microphones should be plugged into two seperate channels. I'd use channel two and three but you can put them where you like.

Then take the output from your mixing board and plug it into the input of your amp which should be hooked to your speakers. If your mixer is built in to your amp, you won't need this step. You'll be ready to go after you plug everything into the mixer section. :w

This should get you going.

Jim :g

Mixer Type
 

I am using a Behringer Xenyx 802. It has 4chs, with two mono XLR or 1/4" inputs and two stereo 1/4" inputs. Would it work to put the RCA output from the computer into the CD/Tape input of the console?

yes it will work, thats what i used on mine, i have a mackie dfx6, dont wanna waste any of my inline channel , the only thing about using the cd input is that you cant control any on the highs and low, you could by using your eq, but if you do, you'll be controlling the over all outcome of your sound.

You should be fine using the CD/Tape input. Try it, if you don't like it use a couple of channels.


Jim :g

Go to Radio Shack.. Get an adaptor with 1/4" stereo plug on one end and two RCA inputs on the other....:)

I have a Yamaha 640 Mixer-Amp. If you have a mixer amp with 2 1/4" plugs going into 1 channel - then you can get 1/4" plugs that have the female RCA at the other end. Then you can take you red/white & plug a 1/4" into each & then plug into your Mixer. This will give you a true stereo sound. I have been doing it this way for many years.

More Problems
 

So mixing the two signals together worked. However the audio level from the mics was very low unless the channel was panned to the left or right. I also looked through the receiver and could not find any limiter on or anything of that nature. Any suggestions once again is this the mixer or the receiver? Thanks.

I think you are missing a key point that Skybird made - the sound from the computer is going to the mixer so only one pair of lines go to the receiver.
I could not get a clear picture of your Mixer on Behringer website. What is the RCA Input on the right side of the mixer?

first of all what kind of mics are you using? and what kind of cables, is it xlr to 1/4?, i used a xlr to 1/4 cables and a sm58 shure mics on my practice pc at home, paired with my 2 active krk rp8 and a 10"sub studio monitor and a mackie dfx6, i know that if you plugged in your mics using the 1/4 line in of your mixer, the mics volume is low, ( i used this so i wont wake up my 2 yr. old daughter ) and i have my pc headphone out plugged into cd/tape input of my board, ( no problems on music volume i can turn it up as high as i wanted to) so my suggestions are, if doing a show use xlr to xlr cables for you mics and the xlr line in of your mixing board, and maybe get a good quality mics, do not use both the xlr & 1/4 line in of the same channel.if this doent work, unplugged everything and start from scratched, plug your system one at the time..are you using a home system or a pro audio type of gears?

The system I am using is a home setup. And the mics are all switched Audio Technica or SM58s. However the cables are XLR to 1/4". I will switch the cables and see if the audio level increases. Thank you for the tips.

i'm not sure changing cables will work i think what you should do was to get yourself small amp ( dont use your tuner ) plugged in a pair of speakers, into the amp, plug your mics into any of the boards line inputs, and plug your pc/laptop into cd/tape input using 1/8 to rca, please dont tell me you're using your home system to do a show? if you are ,my suggestion was to get yourself a professional grade sound system., home system is just what it is for "home "

Impedance for the 1/4 is different than for the xlr. Probably the problem right there. Your cable adaptor probably won't work well unless you add an impedance matching adaptor. If you've got xlr inputs available you'd be far better off just using an xlr cable.
I always use XLR when I can, you get a stronger signal with less amplification and you are less likely to pickup interferance from other sources

thats true thats what i use at home,on my practice pc, xlr to 1/4 cable and sm58 mics are the same no matter how high you turn the line input fader or gain of your board volumes are still low ( i could get mine to where its sounds descent. ) i use xlr to xlr when im doing my show, i think he's problem was the way he hooked-up everything, and the tuner might not have enough juice to run everything hooked-up to it.

Switching to the XLR to XLR cables solved all the problems. Thank you for the help.

thats good to know..now you can have some have some fun:)