Skype Lessons set up. ???

[Marvin]

My son may have to have guitar lessons using Skype (or similar) soon, as his guitar tutor is moving and he'd like to stay with the same tutor.  He's had Skype lessons before but just used the laptop mic, which isn't the best. Ideally I'd want him to be able to route his guitar into the laptop, use a proper mic not the laptop one and use headphones to hear himself and his tutor. 

 

I've got an old non USB mixer and a very old USB interface that might do the job (I'd need a mic). I've used it before on my Mac and GarageBand,  but not for anything like online lessons. (pic below).

 

 

Would this gear work? Would it be better to buy a different  USB interface, one that you can plug in the guitar and mic? Would a USB mixer be a better solution? Do I need a DAW to make all this work for online lessons?

 

As you might be able to see I'm not knowledgeable in anything like this, so any advice or pointers would be great. Cheers

[Crawford13]

Yup that would work. Bass & Vocal mic into the mixer, then mixer into the interface. On Skype use the interface as the sound source and output then run headphones from the interface.

 

Technically you wouldn't need a DAW.

Edited November 28, 2021 by Crawford13

[Marvin]

I've got sound going into the computer as it works on a DAW on its own.

 

However,  when I close the DAW and try on Skype I get nothing. I get a faint bit of guitar if I put the input at maximum on the interface,  but I'm also getting a massive amount of hiss/white noise.

 

Real head scrater 

[Crawford13]

What operating system are you using?

[Marvin]

Tried on Mac and 2 different Windows machines, no joy at all.

 

I've got a signal going in. When you open up the audio settings in Skype there's sound going to Skype as the bars move. However,  nothing can be heard the other end by the person I'm calling. Yet I can hear them with the headphones from the audio interface. 

 

🤔

[Saul Panzer]

I use this to hook my bass up to my PC, it's just a regular guitar jack at one end and USB at the other (mac isn't listed on Amazon but one of the reviews says it works if you have a USB to type-C adaptor).
Its been working fine in both Win7 and Linux for months, on both it shows up as a USB microphone but with your guitar/bass input instead of voice.
Never cut out and if there's any latency it's so little I can't notice it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EBXYA-Interface-Connector-Computer-Recording/dp/B089R3DVQY?th=1

 

No idea how that works within Skype to be honest, I've never used it...whether you can have multiple mic inputs or only 1 at a time.

[RhythmJunky]

That's very similar to what I use for piano lessons.

 

Mic in line 1. I use a really cheap condenser mic using phantom power off the mixer.

Piano in 2 & 3.

I use a seperate DAC from a USB on the computer to feed audio into 4 &5, but could have just used the audio out.

 

Final input on that mixer (it's only 6 channel despite what Behringer called it), is my bass via the preamp in an old basspod, however you can use the Tape In inputs to cheat another couple of inputs ( I have a hardware drum machine connected on mine).

 

Output from the mixer goes thro' the audio interface back into the computer. I use a Behringer UCA202, which was pretty much the cheapest that I could find and works perfectly. I've never noticed any latency.

 

BTW I bought a 1008 USB mixer recently with idea of replacing this, but it didn't work as it won't do talkback, meaning you can either talk or listen, but not both at the same time. Useless for what I wanted, so it went back.

 

If you have any questions please ask. I've probably had the same problem at some time.

 

 

 

[RhythmJunky]

Just read your problem.

 

I think that you need to select the interface as the input in Skype, otherwise its trying to use the computer audio.

[Marvin]

13 hours ago, RhythmJunky said:

That's very similar to what I use for piano lessons.

 

Mic in line 1. I use a really cheap condenser mic using phantom power off the mixer.

Piano in 2 & 3.

I use a seperate DAC from a USB on the computer to feed audio into 4 &5, but could have just used the audio out.

 

Final input on that mixer (it's only 6 channel despite what Behringer called it), is my bass via the preamp in an old basspod, however you can use the Tape In inputs to cheat another couple of inputs ( I have a hardware drum machine connected on mine).

 

Output from the mixer goes thro' the audio interface back into the computer. I use a Behringer UCA202, which was pretty much the cheapest that I could find and works perfectly. I've never noticed any latency.

 

BTW I bought a 1008 USB mixer recently with idea of replacing this, but it didn't work as it won't do talkback, meaning you can either talk or listen, but not both at the same time. Useless for what I wanted, so it went back.

 

If you have any questions please ask. I've probably had the same problem at some time.

 

 

 

Is the DAC to the desk for monitoring?

 

13 hours ago, RhythmJunky said:

Just read your problem.

 

I think that you need to select the interface as the input in Skype, otherwise its trying to use the computer audio.

This is why it's quite frustrating.  The interface is the selected input, there's sound going in as you get the input level bars going up and down as you play...but no sound to the person you're 'calling'. I'm inclined yo think it's the interface.

[RhythmJunky]

I use the dac principally as I had it lying about. It does give slightly better sound quality and as a bonus let me tidy up the cables a bit.

 

Your problem is strange. The only times I've had something similar was when the audio was set to the computer and not the interface and once when I forgot to turn on phantom power to the mic 😳.  It looks like something isn't switched on in the s/w somewhere, but as you've tried that then look at the h/w.

 

I'd work back through a process of elimination. Just the laptop, then laptop with the interface and finally with the mixer as well.

 

You can use the Skype test call facility to check what's being heard at the other end.

 

BTW you won't be able to use the laptop mic when the interface is connected, but you probably knew that anyway.

[nekomatic]

I’m no expert but that seems quite weird. 
 

Does it work with any other video calling platforms than Skype and if so is the tutor wedded to Skype or could you use a different one?

 

Is there some funky ‘reduce background noise’ setting that’s blocking the guitar because it isn’t a voice?

[RhythmJunky]

Marvin, can you perhaps send on some photos of how the interface is connected to the computer and the guitar to the interface. 

 

A screenshot of the system set up (what audio input you have selected etc)  would be helpful too. 

[Marvin]

Thank you for your help.

 

In the end it was my old audio interface causing the problem.  As they're quite cheap, I bought the Behringer UCA202 that you mentioned @RhythmJunky and it works a treat.

[RhythmJunky]

Great. Glad you got it sorted. 😀