Post: #1

When I did the Tradthot live stream, a problem I had was that callers could not hear what my Youtube guests were saying, though they could hear what I was saying since I use a separate lapel microphone for them.

If I buy a mixer, how do I connect things where callers can hear both me and the guests, the guests can hear the callers and me, and I can hear everything, all without guests and callers hearing themselves talk? Here's a picture of the setup:

   

What do I connect to the in and out of everything if I were using this mixer (assuming I can do it with this mixer)?

Here's a bigger size image so you can see the mixer panel more clearly: https://i.imgur.com/DojpSTE.jpg

Post: #2

I've never done something like this before, so there may be a lot of unforeseen mistakes in my answer, but I've given it a shot with the following, maybe more experienced forum guys can weigh-in also. Man, was this a brain-twister. Here goes:

COMPUTER 1
Google hangouts IN – Roosh Mic and Callers
Google hangouts OUT – Online Guests Only

COMPUTER 2
Callers IN – Roosh Mic and Hangout Guests
Callers OUT- Callers Audio only

There are 2 mic inputs on your mixer,
Take your mic, input into a Splitter, so that one signal can be split into 2 outputs.
Channel 1 of your mixer will have one input,
Channel 2 of your mixer will have one input also.
Pan channel 1 HARD LEFT
Pan Channel 2 HARD RIGHT

Your mixer has “Line ins, ¾, 5/6”

You take the headphone output of computer 1 ( google hangouts) which is a stereo 3.5mm, and send this to Line In ¾ . There are cables that are 3.5mm to two 6.5mm ( or quarter inches ). Now PAN this HARD LEFT
You take the headphone output of computer 2 ( Callers ) which is a stereo 3.5mm, and send this to Line In 5/6 . With another 3.5mm to two 6.5mm ( or quarter inches ) cable. Now PAN THIS HARD RIGHT.

Channel 1 is panned Left, and so is Line in ¾. And we know you have a mic cable going into channel one LEFT and Google Hangouts are in ¾ which is panned left. This will send ONLY this information to the Main Mix Left Output. Connect a cable from your Main Mix Left Output to Computer 2’s Input ( Callers comp ) it will be a 6.5mm to a 3.5mm cable. Now callers should only hear you and your Guests.

Channel 2 is panned Right and so is Line in 5/6. And we know you have a mic cable going into channel two and Callers are in 5/6 which is panned Right. This will send ONLY this information to the Main Mix Right Output. Connect a cable from your Main Mix Right Output to Computer 1’s Input ( Google Hangout comp ) it will be a 6.5mm to a 3.5mm cable. Now Guests should only hear you and your Callers.
One thing I’ve heard is that you’d be better off not recording the calls on the computer, issues come up, like crashing after recording 50 minutes , you lose it ALL , in this scenario. Podcasters have said “Have a separate recorder”

Well you have an H5. Perfect. You could take the CONTROL ROOM OUTS, send the Left into Channel 1 of your zoom, send the Right into Channel 2 of your Zoom, you can control the input levels of 1, and 2, independent of one another. i.e. Ch. 1 at say 40, and Ch. 2 at say 60, this will record and produce 2 files on your zoom, which you can mix later. Not only that, but you can Monitor ( listen to) all of this Input to your Zoom via the Zooms headphone output. You might be able to Monitor ( listen to ) all of the Mixers information using the headphone jack it has, but, it will be sending signal from your guests and callers, left and right. This could get annoying hearing the guests and callers in one ear or the other, actually I suppose you could go mono, in other words, get an output from the headphones which sends in Mono, then you’ll have no stereo separation, I think monitoring via the H5 might be better, it is afterall, an independent volume also.

This is the best I could think up for now, given the Mixer. There are still a few issues I’m guessing at, but this is a lot for now.

All issues could be solved with the new Zoom L-12. https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-L-12-LiveTrak/dp/B074G25D6Y

But it’s $600 U.S. which a great price for what it does. 1) it has the possibility of sending out 5 separate headphone mixes! You could have your voice at one volume for your guests, another volume for your callers, another volume for yourself, and another volume for a recorder! 2) it has on board recording. 3) it has compression on every channel, etc. It’s everything in one place.

Anyhow, good luck.

Post: #3

Thanks! I'm going to study it a bit more.

Post: #4

Also if you get what Zap recommended, you could also add a soundboard for comedic effect

Post: #5

(01-31-2018 07:01 PM)Roosh Wrote:  Thanks! I'm going to study it a bit more.

You might also try reaching out to some of the other broadcasters in your circles and see what they do / use. Probably some best practices out there.

Post: #6

(01-31-2018 08:12 PM)Gmac Wrote:  

(01-31-2018 07:01 PM)Roosh Wrote:  Thanks! I'm going to study it a bit more.

You might also try reaching out to some of the other broadcasters in your circles and see what they do / use. Probably some best practices out there.

Yep, there are tons of guys like this on Youtube, I'd reach out to one and see what's up. It's been ten years since I've had my little mixer, I'm sure things have changed a lot.

Post: #7

You shouldn't need anything fancy or multiple computers to make this happen. Both Macs and PCs have built in mixing tools that should be able to have multiple channels send directly to the output.

Roosh, i'm assuming you're on a PC. Make sure none of your channels are set to "exclusive mode". That would cause a scenario like this.

If you do want an interface with mixing capabilities, i'd recommend finding a cheap Mbox 2 with a USB input. It will provide you with an xlr/ DI input and pan controls if that's what you want. There's no need for a fancy mixer ($$$) like the one you have in a picture.

You could spend oodles of money on this equipment. Audio gear is such a weird market.

Post: #8

(01-31-2018 09:11 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  You shouldn't need anything fancy or multiple computers to make this happen. Both Macs and PCs have built in mixing tools that should be able to have multiple channels send directly to the output.

Roosh, i'm assuming you're on a PC. Make sure none of your channels are set to "exclusive mode". That would cause a scenario like this.

If you do want an interface with mixing capabilities, i'd recommend finding a cheap Mbox 2 with a USB input. It will provide you with an xlr/ DI input and pan controls if that's what you want. There's no need for a fancy mixer ($$$) like the one you have in a picture.

You could spend oodles of money on this equipment. Audio gear is such a weird market.

I have a USB interface too, but couldn't figure out how to get the caller to be able to hear the other people in the videostream as well as not hear themselves when they call in, and have the people in the videostream hear them. You may need special software to be able to do it with just the Mbox, unless if I am missing something.

Post: #9

^^Ah! I got it now. For some reason I was having trouble visualizing everything.

This should achieve what it is you want. It's called chevolume. It allows software routing of audio sources. Please let me know if this works. You will have to configure it to route your audio correctly. I apologize if this doesn't work!

Here's a post about a freeware alternative: https://www.reddit.com/r/software/commen...chevolume/

As for the Mbox, the windows drivers should have it act like an external sound and input control. It will appear in the windows audio device controls like your built in inputs do.

Post: #10

I would personally use a hardware mixer like the Behringer instead of a software mixer. Physical controls are nice when you are multitasking and they don't crash like software. I'm sure there are some specialized mixers out there for podcasting that can do some whiz bang things but that 802 Behringer will work just fine for what you are doing, especially considering how cheap they are used.

If we are using a budget analog mixer with a single main out, I was thinking along the lines of what Zep was saying but I don't think you will need to split the microphone to 2 separate channels. I think you should be able to get away with leaving the microphone line panned center. I could be wrong on that though, Zep may need to confirm.

I'm drunk right now so this may be a little off but I would try this...

Inputs:

Get two 1/8" male stereo TRS to dual 1/4" male mono TS cable like this.

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Splitter-C...B00ZKM3SHK

Connect the speaker output of the google hangouts laptop to line 3/4 LR and pan hard right

Connect the speaker output of the caller laptop to line 5/6 LR and pan hard left

Connect your mic to line 1 and pan center.


Outputs:

Get two 1/8" to 1/4" male TS cables like this

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMP-103-inch...B000068O3E

Connect the mixer main out L to the mic input on the google hangouts laptop

Connect the mixer main out R to the mic input on the caller laptop


Monitoring:

Connect your headphones to phones on the mixer. You should hear callers in one ear, guests in the other and yourself center. More robust mixers with multiple sub outputs and headphone mixes would be nice for monitoring and troubleshooting but the price probably isn't worth it right now. The 802 will be able to get you there just fine after a little fiddling.


That should be it. I might be able to test it out this weekend with a similar mixer but I'm not sure I want to rip my practice setup apart right now. Between this, what zep said and some youtube videos this should be pretty easy.

Post: #11

(02-01-2018 12:10 AM)IvanDrago Wrote:  If we are using a budget analog mixer with a single main out, I was thinking along the lines of what Zep was saying but I don't think you will need to split the microphone to 2 separate channels. I think you should be able to get away with leaving the microphone line panned center. I could be wrong on that though, Zep may need to confirm.

Yep, I was thinking about this a couple of hours ago, and you may be able to have one mic input centered. I was thinking of the splitting to 2 channels for volume control to feed either computer 1, or 2, but realized that that could be overkill, plus, I looked up the cost of a good splitter, $250 u.s., there's no point at that price.

Also, the software route? I wouldn't even bother. If 20 guys on youtube are doing podcasts with physical mixers and mics, there has to be a reason. One I've personally experienced is ... software crashes! Keep everything separate and clean, IMO.

Post: #12

(02-01-2018 12:29 AM)Zep Wrote:  Yep, I was thinking about this a couple of hours ago, and you may be able to have one mic input centered. I was thinking of the splitting to 2 channels for volume control to feed either computer 1, or 2, but realized that that could be overkill, plus, I looked up the cost of a good splitter, $250 u.s., there's no point at that price.

For something like this, I would think he could get away with a XLR splitter for a few bucks if he wanted independent control of the mic level to both laptops. Just run one to line 1 and the other to line 2 to and pan accordingly like you mentioned earlier.

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YXM-121-XLR3...B000068O59

I'm not 100% sure though since I've never had to do something like that.

(02-01-2018 12:29 AM)Zep Wrote:  Also, the software route? I wouldn't even bother. If 20 guys on youtube are doing podcasts with physical mixers and mics, there has to be a reason. One I've personally experienced is ... software crashes! Keep everything separate and clean, IMO.

Plus, if he ever gets a new laptop or if a software update breaks something, he won't have to dick with setting everything up again. The analog setup is permanent and interchangeable with any machine with a line in and out.

The only benefit I see to a software solution would be if power, space or mobility is a concern.


Edit: If you are looking at something on this price point of the behringer 802, you might want to check in to the Q802USB for a few bucks more. It has built in one knob compressors on both mic lines.

https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-Q802USB...B008O517IC

I messed around with a similar Behringer model with this option a while and it did an "ok" job keeping mic levels in check for what it is. I wouldn't use it for live sound but it might be a nice cheap addition for what you are doing.

Post: #13

Another solution if you don't want to mess with a mixer.



That would be pretty metal.

Post: #14

(02-01-2018 12:43 AM)IvanDrago Wrote:  For something like this, I would think he could get away with a XLR splitter for a few bucks if he wanted independent control of the mic level to both laptops. Just run one to line 1 and the other to line 2 to and pan accordingly like you mentioned earlier.

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YXM-121-XLR3...B000068O59

I'm not 100% sure though since I've never had to do something like that.


Edit: If you are looking at something on this price point of the behringer 802, you might want to check in to the Q802USB for a few bucks more. It has built in one knob compressors on both mic lines.

https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-Q802USB...B008O517IC

I messed around with a similar Behringer model with this option a while and it did an "ok" job keeping mic levels in check for what it is. I wouldn't use it for live sound but it might be a nice cheap addition for what you are doing.

Wow, that Hosa splitter is $10 ?. Ha! That's why I like forums like this, I wouldn't have come to that by myself. I was looking at the Radial splitter, but that's too pro for this.

I have one of these for my laptop, it's great for $10.00. https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-RockStar-H...00BE69DSE. But have noticed that the more inputs I feed to it, the more the volume goes down, it's not an issue with my laptop because it's loud.

I too was thinking Roosh should invest in the Q802USB that you linked above, it's only a few more bucks and there's the compressor on Channels 1 and 2. Those can be very handy.

Post: #15

I just realized we are being tarded regarding controlling the mic level to the 2 seperate laptops. He won't need to split the mic to 2 inputs. He can just plug the mic in to line 1 and pan left or right to control the level to the LR outputs that way. If one laptop has too much mic, just pan the other direction.

Post: #16

I'm going with Zep's solution. Total cost for mixer and cables is only $150, so if Youtube bans me tomorrow, I'm not out a lot of money. I should get everything in 2 weeks.

Thanks Zep!