Mixer out "mono" to Computer sound card in "stereo"

[Test Point]

Hey all....It has been ages (!) since I've posted. I have been so busy with my job/kids/wife/etc that I haven't had hardly any time to play at my bench. I was going to post a picture of my bench but it would probably be a runner up for one of the cleaner benches...there were some real doozies.....I am just really anal about a clean bench I guess. I do check the forum almost everynight though and try to keep up with what's going on....I am starting a new job Monday (well, one that I used to have about three years ago) and quit when me and the manager had a face to face...he got fired about two weeks later but I needed to cool off...It's working in a repair facility as an electronics tech for a large music chain here in the New England/New York area...I do this as well at home but it's nice to get the benefits with the job. I'll get to play with alot of stuff...old and new....
Anyway...I am having a brain dump here and need a little advice...I need to record mono from a board (Mackie...I know, I know...but it's not for hifi stuff) into a computer onto two tracks (doesn't need to be stereo, just two tracks). Can I just tie the tip and ring together on the stereo input plug of the sound card and the other end just a mono plug jammed into the mono out of the Mackie? I don't know why I can't visualize if this would be OK. If this question is not clear enough please ask me to clarify it.
Thanks for any help clearing out the cobwebs of my cerebrum.

Test Point

[Kev]

As far as I can read into what you are asking, I see a mono out of the Mackie into the soundcard.

The Mackie will have enough level ( perhaps too much level ) to feed both channels of the soundcard.
The Mackie is unbalanced output ??

Impedance matching and PAD may help with noise issues but generally I see no reason why this mono output won't drive two channels of the soundcard.


If the Mackie were balanced out you could record both halfs of the balance line.

[Test Point]

Hi Kev...after I wrote that query, I realized how to do what I needed to do. Sometimes simple concepts are just out of my grasp when I am tired....I laid in bed and thought about what I had written and realized how simple it was. I was so tired, even the question didn't make sense.

Test Point

[Test Point]

Kev...you mentioned in your reply that I could record both sides of the balanced output. wouldn't that record each track exactly 180 degrees out thereby cancelling out the audio when listening to both tracks at the same time? the way I thought of doing this would record both tracks "in phase".

TP

[Kev]

Yep,
but it is always interesting to do it and find out if does in fact null out.

Most DAWs have a phase flip anyway.

When flipped the noise will cancel. When you record just the unbalanced signal you have the noise as well ... and for two channels you get two signals and two noises.

Now look up what a floating differential input means.

Today we have trouble in the TV studio with 26 headset mics on contestants that are completely clean with no contestants and one particular set of lights off BUT when the contestants are in position and those lights are on, we get noise.
There is a lot of lights in the studio and all on dimmers BUT just this small set of lights stuffs things up.

The desk is balanced mic input .... but is it fully floating differential ... I think not.
Funny how a transformer'd mic input ... just seems to work.