How to run a USB Mic through an External Audio Mixer

USB Mic through an External Audio Mixer – How To

USB Mic through an External Audio MixerI have been reading on forums lately how some people would like to be able to run their USB Mic through their external hardware mixing desks, and it is relatively easy to do.

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Below is a diagram on how to run your wiring between the devices.

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Plug your USB Mic into a USB Slot, run an appropriate lead from the Line Out/Headphone Out of your computer into a stereo input channel on your mixer. If your mixer has only mono channels, use channel one for your left, and channel 2 for your right. Next, run wires from the Main Output of the mixer to your Line in/Mic In on your computer, and the physical part is done.

Next, open up Voicemeeter (If you don’t have Voicemeeter you can download it free at VB-Audio.com) and select your USB Mic as the device for channel 1. Make sure “A” is selected/highlighted and “B” is not selected.

step 1Then, select your Line Out/Headphone Out jack as the device for Voicemeeters Main Output, “A1”.

Step 2Now it is time to select your Line In/Mic in as the device for Channel 2. Make sure that “A” is not selected, and “B” is selected.

Step 3All that is left is to open up the app you want to use (eg – Skype, Vidblaster, or some other Web Cam program) and select Voicemeeter’s Virtual Device (Output “B” in Voicemeeter) as the input source audio device.

Skype InVoicemeeter can be downloaded FREE HERE at vb-audio.com. Don’t forget to make a donation – the programmer deserves a little something for a program this good!
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How to use a USB Mic AND Mixer together in Skype or Vidblaster

How to use a USB Mic AND Mixer together in Skype or Vidblaster

USB Mic AND MixerWeb cam software like Skype and Vidblaster only allow for one audio source, so if your mixer is coming into the computer via the line input, and your mic is coming in through USB, you are generally out of luck….until now.

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I recently stumbled upon a free piece of software called Voicemeeter which makes it incredibly easy to solve this problem. It is basically a software mixer that will allow you to take various inputs as well as your system sound and mix them with a great deal of control into one “Virtual” sound device, which you can then select as your audio input device in your web cam program.

Voicemeeter Connection DiagramTo get started, Download your free copy of Voicemeeter HERE.During installation, you will get some dialogue boxes telling you it wants to install some drivers, this is completely normal.

voicemeeter-driver-installOnce you have installed it, you will need to restart your computer so the virtual drivers can register in your system. Once you have rebooted, open up Voicemeeter and you will see the mixing console.

voicemeeter Mixing ConsoleLooks cool doesn’t it! In short, you have two hardware inputs and one virtual input. The virtual input seems to be your system sound, so anything that tries to output through your computers speakers, like Winamp or Windows Media Player, can be fed into your mix here if you want it, if not, just mute this track by pressing the “M” button at the bottom next to its slider. To mix your Mic and Line In (Mixer) click where it says “1 Hardware Input” and select your USB Mic from the drop down list.

Select USB MicThe next step is to select your line in/mixer device in “2 Hardware Input”

Select Line InNow its time to tell Voicemeeter where your speakers are. Select them from the drop down menu that says “Hardware OUT”

select-speakersThe last step to making this all work is to open your Windows menu and select control panel. When this opens select the sound icon to open your computers sound preferences window. In the “Playback” section select “Voicemeeter Input” and then set it as the default device.

select-voicemeeter-in-soundNow you are all configured, you just need to do a small adjustment in Voicemeeter to stop feedback loops. The output of Voicemeeter has two channels, “Main Out” which will go to your speakers, and “Virtual Out” which is what will go into web cam software (Skype, Vidblaster etc….)

main out  virtual out
 In the “1 Hardware Input” channel, it is wise to de-select “A” as this will stop your mic from being played out aloud through your speakers. This will prevent feedback, but still allows your USB Mic to feed into your web cam program through the Virtual Out.

Channel SelectNow, all that’s left is to open your web cam program, Skype or Vidblaster etc, and select Voicemeeters output as your input device, and you can now use your USB Mic AND your external hardware mixer.

Skype In
Voicemeeter can be downloaded FREE HERE at vb-audio.com. Don’t forget to make a donation – the programmer deserves a little something for a program this good!

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Easily split large audio files into individual tracks with Audacity

Split large audio files into individual tracks with Audacity
Split large audio filesThis tutorial shows you how easy it is to split large audio files into single individual tracks using the free program called Audacity on Mac, Windows and Linux

You can download Audacity FREE for Mac, Windows and Linux/Unix HERE.

httpvh://youtu.be/72ewbraagj8

Quickly and Easily Batch Rename your TV shows and Movie Files with Filebot on Mac, Windows and Linux

Filebot LogoThe quickest and easiest way I have found to keep my video library under control is by using an automatic file naming tool called Filebot. You can view the website HERE.

From the creators website:

FileBot makes organizing your movies and TV shows a breeze! We’ll automatically match your files with information from various online databases. How you want your media files to be named and organized is completely up to you. Our groovy format engine supports pretty much anything!

Filebot UI

What I like best about it is being able to customize the output in anyway you please. I arrange my files in folders, so I have no need for the show title to be in the filename, I just like the season and episode number, as well as the episode title. But you can make your filenames include pretty much anything you want by adjusting the output formula.

Heres My Filebot Formula
{s00e00} - {t.replacePart(' Part $1').replaceAll("&", replacement = "And").replaceAll("'", replacement = "").replaceAll("!", replacement = "").replaceAll(",", replacement = "")}

Also from the Filebot website, here are some sample naming options:

Filebot Naming Formula

{n} - {s00e00} - {t}Dark Angel – S03E01 – Labyrinth

V:/TV Shows/{n}/Season {s}/{sxe} - {t}V:\TV Shows\Dark Angel\Season 3\3×01 – Labyrinth

{n.space('.').lower()}.{s}{e.pad(2)}dark.angel.301

{n} ({y}){" CD$pi"}The Man from Earth (2007) CD1

{n} [{y}] {vf} {af}The Man from Earth [2007] 720p 6ch

Filebot is free to download and use from their website HERE. MAC USERS – If you try to download Filebot through the app store it is not free – It costs $4.99US, but you can get the latest version for free from Filebots Sourceforge file repository HERE. Just open the folder for the latest version and download the app.tar.gz version of the file.

Move and Insert Cursor anywhere in text on iPhone and iPad

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Have you ever typed out a bunch of words on your iPhone and wanted to go back and delete, change or insert something? There is an easy way to do it.

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Just put your finger on the word or place you want to change, and leave/hold it there for a second or so, and a little magnifying glass will pop up. Without taking your finger off the screen, just move your finger left, right, up or down, and you will see the cursor inside the magnifying glass moving around the text. Just move the cursor to the place you need it to be, take your finger off the screen, the magnifying glass disappears and your cursor is right where you need it to be to make your changes.