My Alesis Multimix 4 USB FX 4 channel mixer/USB recording interface questions!

[thestorygirl]

Thanks! Will be working on this problem...

[Dana]

OK, just let me know.

[Dana]

Any updates?

[thestorygirl]

Thanks for asking. The audio tech guy from my church said he could take a look at it tomorrow for me, so I plan to! I'm really praying it will be simply resolved.

[thestorygirl]

Good news! Church Guy was able to get it responding pretty easily. The problem was me not using that mystery plug we wondered about! He said it may be my mic needed a little more juice than just the power button was giving it. Some of the younger guys were pretty impressed with all the wires and equipment and watching things light up. They thought I must be a real techie! HA HA HA!
Later this week I will begin tackling set up again. Talk to you soon!

[Dana]

That's great! The next step is to work on mic placement. I have no doubt your mixer will power the SM58 just fine. Mine always have. After mic placement, it will be input levels. After input levels, it is basically everything you are used to doing. By the time we are finished, you will be, "one of those techie guys"! Check out the pic below concerning mic placement. You can see how close she is for singing, for speech you will need to be a little closer.

[thestorygirl]

Okay, one step closer! I got things to light up by myself.
Now, big question: Am I supposed to be able to hear through my earbuds as I'm recording? Because I am not able to, only in playback.
(I know you could personally do without this, but I feel I enjoy performing so much better that way. )
I've got the phone volume knob turned up all the way, but not hearing anything.

[thestorygirl]

I could also not hear it in playback this time either. Only yesterday when testing around with Church Guy.

[thestorygirl]

OK, I feel silly. Was just playing around with it and it seems that the earbuds' plug into the extension cord I was using is a very loose fit. I hear everything now when I hold them together. But there is a strong electrical hum with it. Could this be the extension cord that came with the earbuds causing it? I had not previously used them, but I had to rearrange my setup and place the Alesis a little farther away to reach the outlet, and so then my earbuds wouldn't reach the Alesis. Grrr!
Later... OK, it was not the extension cord causing the problem. It still is a loose fit without it, just plugged into the adapter. And still the electrical hum. Hum is very bad. Oh no!

[thestorygirl]

You'll be very glad to know that after more fiddling around, I believe it is no electrical hum. I just need to hold the earbud + extension cord together with some duct tape ( ) and I believe the noise I was hearing in the background is my laptop running loudly. Unfortunately, I will not be able to get a brand new one any time soon, but I have heard that perhaps using a small MacBook Pro might do the trick for such a situation. ...What do you think? I could save up for that.
But in any case, after doing a few test recordings, I went home and listened and I don't hear the laptop in playback. So maybe the mic is not picking that up at all. That would be sweet!
So I guess it's on to the next step. I will be working on the input levels using the videos you've made. I'll let you know when I have problems [we know it's not a matter of 'if', right?].