How to record from mixer to laptop

If you are thinking and wondering how to record your live music performance, you should consider buying some equipment for that task.

It’s true that you can record live audio with a built-in microphone in a laptop, a smartphone or a handy recorder.

However, if you want to achieve a better sound you will need some extra equipment. You will need at least a sound card, USB audio interface or analog/digital live audio mixer.

Of course, the combination of these two devices would be perfect, but as we know that advanced consoles have a number of options for recording.

Most have a USB or Firewire connection, and may be the best choice for capturing live audio performances.

Soundboards for recording

I/O

A number of inputs on the mixer are just one of the many important factors. If you want to do a live sound recording of your entire band, you can’t use a mixer with only, for example, 4 input channels, because only drums will require every channel.

However, if you intend to record a podcast show with guests, several input channels should be enough for you. There is also the question of physical size and I/O (input and output) placement because there is a big difference between analog and digital mixers when comes to size, weight, and I/O connectors location.

Smaller mixers have their inputs on top like most of the analog desks but a lot of digital models have their I/O on the front or their backside. In a live sound mixing situation as well as recording performance, you need a mixer with enough inputs to handle the combination of microphones and other instruments you want to capture.

Onboard Signal Processing and Effects

Another important factor, maybe not for a studio recording but definitely for live performance, is a signal processing options. Most analog and digital audio mixers have at least EQ on each channel. Usually, digital mixers provide much more signal processing than analog which means that you will need to throw less on additional equipment such as reverb, delay, compressor, limiter…etc.

Also, a lot of analog sound desks have effects built in such as reverb and delay. You should pay attention that onboard effects have their own aux bus; if not, you could lose a monitor mix in order to apply effects to your instruments or vocals.

There are several ways and approaches on how you can record from your live sound console depending on whether it’s digital or analog and I am going to introduce you with these and explain step by step how to record audio to any other device. You might be interested in my other post on aux return and send.

Analog Recording from a Mixer

Analog models remain popular because of their lower price and ease of use despite the greater versatility of their digital rivals. Their operation can be somehow more natural and more interesting because of that feeling which their physically controlled functions such as faders, knobs, and switches provide. Many people find that the analog mixer’s signal processing and routing are easier to understand and achieve rather than small screens on a mixer board, Ipad or smartphone.

In the past, the analog mixers were very large and heavy but now it’s much easier since you can carry them in your backpack. With the development of USB technology, the analog mixing desk have evolved, so today,  with many having a USB port, you can easily record your performance to your PC. Read my review of the Yamaha MG20 soundboard.

If you don’t have USB mixer, you should get at least simple audio interface/sound card. Then with a pair of RCA, or 6.5mm cables (depending on the audio interface) connect your sounddesk with it. After you connected have the mixer and sound card, connect your iPad or Android with the sound card also with adaptors we already mentioned. Download USB recorder app from Google Play or App Store.

If you own a USB mixer, then forget about the audio interface and just connect it with your phone with simplest USB cable.

Recently, Roland company introduced us with a little affordable (around $100) gadget called Go: Mixer. With this compact unit, you can record in high-quality up to five (with Pro version up to nine) instruments directly to your smartphone with a USB connection. With Roland’s app for this device, you can easily film a video as well as audio. It couldn’t be easier.

Software Or Standalone Multitrack Recorder (MTR)

Multitrack recording is, simply, the process of laying down many instrument or vocal tracks at the same time. Multi means many and tracks would be, in this context, audio. Usually, a technician will record each instrument separately and then adjust volume levels to mix everything properly. But with a multitrack soundboard, a whole band can play a song at the same time and after that, the producer can process each track as he wants.

The most common example of multiple channel recording would be a track for vocals, one for bass, one for guitar, one for keys … What about drums? It depends on the engineer … drums could have one track and could also have a track for each component. Don’t be fooled. Not every mixer with a USB connection can offer you multitrack output! There are also other options such as handheld digital recorders.

Hardware recorders – Standalone Units

Dedicated hardware recorders are really worth investing in if you plan to do a lot of recording. The most important thing is that these models tend to be extremely stable. There are really low chances that it can crash.

They are usually compact and be sure to keep an eye on its hard disk or card media capacity. Advantages of a standalone multitrack unit would be Plug-and-play operation right out of the box and easy learning curve since they are made only for one purpose – to multitrack recording.

There is no need for drivers, updates, additional setup because it has the narrowly focused scope of operation. You will be able to just plug in each instrument in its input and start right away. A professional voice recorder or hd audio device can be a good investment.

Recording Software options

An alternative to a relatively expensive standalone device is a PC with some Digital Audio Workstation which can provide a multitrack recording and a decent audio interface or analog/digital mixer which can provide the multi-channel recording. Audacity is technically a DAW, but there are many software packages out there that are far more sophisticated, such as Cubase, Ableton and Pro Tools(see below).

As you know, there is always potential instability or incompatibility with PCs. The main advantage of this kind of recording is being able to go directly into the DAW and then edit, apply effects, mix, etc. If you choose to record with software, you should consider using your PC only for that purpose, to avoid a risk of instability.

The whole idea of multitrack recording with an analog/digital mixer with firewire or USB or just an audio interface with that feature is that you should just connect your it with your PC open DAW and start. But in reality, it isn’t that simple. Usually, there is always something that you need to update, install, reinstall, setup, refresh, reboot, and it can be a real headache.

FireWire or USB

Though there is much debate about which one is the better, although Firewire is supposedly faster, given that there is no concrete evidence of the difference in the quality of the audio recording since it is all in digital format, we can’t stand on either side. The thing we know is that USB is much more used and implemented in mixers because it is a bit cheaper than Firewire. Also, the important fact is that when you see regular USB connection on a mixer, it usually means that it can’t offer you multitrack recording while mixers with USB 2 (3), or Firewire port can.

Using Pro Tools

Probably you’ve heard many times that Pro Tools is one of the best DAWs on the market and we certainly claim it’s true. For some beginners, it will not be easy to record in this program since it’s a bit more advanced than the rest. But we will certainly do our best to explain to you what the process of getting audio from your mixer will look directly in Pro Tools.

If you plan to capture a single instrument or stereo session, it should not be that complicated. But before you click that red dot button there is a couple of things you should do and check.

We will consider that you have properly connected your mixer to sound card or directly to the PC and installed all the required audio mixer software and drivers which comes with your audio interface and DAW.

First, you should turn on your PC, then sound card (if you have it) and the sound console. When everything is prepared, open Pro Tools and set up the inputs and outputs. Make sure that the proper playback engine is selected and check for the input in Pro Tools preferences.

Start the new session and name it. Create a new track and name it also. Click the “R” button on that track you want to work with. That R button on track means that recording is enabled and when you press the record button on the transport panel that marked track will be one recording.

Then find that large red dot button and click it. When it starts blinking red, then press the space bar and start your recording.

Here is some gear I have found useful  –

• Focusrite 18i20 USB Audio Interface(8 inputs and comes with rack mount kit and copy of ProTools – found it to be great for recording from mixer and fits nicely into our 18″ rack unit. Extra channels allow multi-track too with worship band) #ad
• Tascam SD-20M Solid State Audio Recorder(this has been a great piece of kit for us too and handy if you don’t want to mess about with software. It’s also only 1U high, so won’t take up much room in your 19″ rack) #ad

• SDXC 128GB Memory Card(SanDisk is always good quality and has never let us down)
• iRig 2 Audio Interface for iPad, iPhone etc(this has been a good solution for us for just doing a quick recording to iPad. It can also be used with a Mac/PC too)

Frank Edwards

Frank Edwards is the founder and owner of churchsoundtips.com and has over 10 years experience running sound in his local church.

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