MC6000MK2 + Serato + Mixlr

First of all, depending on your PC, it most likely does NOT have a combo headphone/mic port. Typically it will have a mic port and an output port (headphone on a laptop, line out on a desktop – in general anyway). So you would be looking at the mic in port. This is ment (duh) for inputting the relatively low signal of a microphone. Not to take line level input signals. Now some laptops will have the electronics to take both so it’s a bit of trial and error there.

If you need the separate volume control, you could use the booth out. In that case you’d be presenting an even higher, balanced signal to the mic input though. You’d need two TS-jack to one stereo mini-jack cable to hook that up. Easier would be to use the second master output RCA connectors and use an double RCA to stereo mini-jack for that.

In both cases you will have to try to get a 0dB output signal into your laptop by either setting the booth level or the master level correctly (for the latter you can use the master output level meter).

Now you can open whatever software you use for streaming (Mixlr in your case). While I don’t know this specific software, you could try this with something as simple as audacity. Make sure the input for the software is set to the internal mic port (not always the default case). Also work out where you can see/set input levels if at all. Now play something, make sure channel fader, cross fader and master or booth volumes are all set correctly and check for incoming signal. If you have done this, there WILL be a (rather loud) signal on your computer input. From there on it will be checking settings and levels to get things operational.

One more word of advice (you’ll know it already perhaps), if you use a mic and want that signal on the booth output as well, on the MC6000 be sure to hit the POST button, otherwise the mic signal is muted from the booth output.

Hope that helps some.

You probably have an issue with the mic/headphone connector which, like on a phone, is trrs not trs. And while it’s made in such a manner that output will always work (your headphones will always work, even if they have no mic), the same is not true for inputting signal.

Let’s say it is like this (I= input, O = output, S= sleeve/ground or common, tip to sleeve/cable = left to right):

TRS: O – O – S
TRRS: O – O – I – S
Here the I in the TRRS plug is not connected when inserted in a TRS connection.

If you plug in a stereo TRS headphone, the Tip (OL), first Ring (OR) and Sleeve S at the base of the connector) will all connect correctly in both TRS (line in mini-jack for example) and TRRS sockets.

If you take a headset (so with mic) it will have a second ring for a MONO mic signal. If you plug this in a TRS socket with no mic support (again line in for example), the outputs and sleeve connect correctly causing you to hear stereo in the headhpone part of the headset. Your mic connection however will not make a connection and will just sit there (i.e. no way to get the input from the mic). On a trrs connection the mic ring will connect and you will have input.

If you buy a single stereo mini-jack to two mono TR jack cable, it is generally used to route the output from the mini-jack side to something with Jack inputs. Typically hooking up an iPod or iPhone to a (studio/live) mixer. The TR tip of each Jack will be connected to either the tip (left) or ring (right) of the mini-jack, the sleeves combine on the mini-jack sleeve.

Now imagine what happens when you put those jacks into an output instead of an input. You now put a hot signal on the tip of the jacks that gets sent to the tip or ring of the trs mini-jack. And as we noted, the tip/first ring of any mini-jack are ALWAYS outputs. So you are trying to hook up a stereo (via two jacks) output to a stereo (mini-jack) output! Clearly your computer has no clue what to do. This will therefor not work.

What you would need is a trrs mini-jack to something with three connectors on the other end, two for stereo output and one for mono input.

Something like this: http://nl.aliexpress.com/store/product/3-5mm-TRRS-to-RCA-AV-female-cable-SKU-3010/100720_628142669.html?storeId=100720

Then you can connect the input connector (yellow in the picture) to one of the booth out jacks. While this works, you will get only half a stereo sound. Which may be fine for many purposes, but I doubt it will be fine for streaming radio. Taking both outputs (jacks) and kinda summing them to the one mono input won’t work either. It still will not be stereo and there is a chance of cancellation.

What my suggestions would be in this case, as there really is no way to solve this effectively with your current setup and just cables, is to get yourself a small PA mixer with USB (the AG06 from Yamaha is my current flavor of the year). You can now go two ways, first is to run your controller master to the mixer (simple RCA to RCA will do). Then take the master output through the USB to your computer and have a full stereo line level input for your streaming software. You can hook up speakers to the PA mixer output. If you don’t touch the master volume on the controller once you have set it to 0dB, you can use the master volume on the PA mixer to regulate your speaker volume. Since the USB master out recording is (I think) pre-fader, it will not fluctuate with the master volume knob. So you will stream the same signal level to your computer regardless of how loud you set your speakers or however much you fluctuate the speaker level.

The second option is to run your speakers from your master output on the controller and use that master volume for speaker control. Send the booth output (I believe this is independent from the master volume) to the PA mixer and record it through USB. You can now set the booth signal to 0dB as well as the rest of the signal path (channel fader on PA mixer) and have a steady recording level separate from the master volume of the controller/speaker volume. Clearly the other way around would work equally well, i.e. hooking up speakers to booth and master out to mixer. With the same level precautions.

Both options will work. Personally I’d use the first one and gaffa tape the booth and master volume knobs on the MC6000 to prevent any accidental signal fluctuation for my broadcast, knowing how crowded the MC6000 deck is (although not as crowded on the mk2 as it was on the original I owned LOL).

While the mixer is slightly more expensive (they are about 135 euro here) than a cheap 2+2 USB sound card, it’s a much more valuable addition to any DJ’s toolkit as it can serve many more purposes as it has way more features than a simple sound card. Most likely the quality will be better also.

Finally you won’t run the risk of oversteering a mic input on a trrs mini-jack ment for mic signals by throwing a balanced line level signal at it.

So summarizing, what you want can be done, but does require some extra gear.