#1 – Always simplify the path as much as possible so you can isolate each possible component.

For example, If you are not getting signal into your home recording software, you may want to test to see if your soundcard is getting a signal first. I'm assuming that the breakout box of your soundcard has LED metering. If there is no signal at the soundcard, the first potential problem is the microphone. If you have a second microphone, try switching to it temporarily. If this doesn't fix the problem, try going back to the first microphone and using a different microphone cable going into your soundcard. If you still have no signal, you may be in trouble (or more than likely you have forgotten a trivial setting on the soundcard. Maybe you don't have the preamp volume up very high. Maybe you have hit some sort of switch that disables the preamps altogether.

#2 – Always look at the inputs and outputs separately.

If you look at the big picture, you'll never figure out what the little problem is. So, start of by busting the problem up into 2 parts....the input and the output. This makes it much easier to identify the problem. If this sounds a lot like #1, don't be surprised. Understanding basic troubleshooting fundamentals is the heart of computer audio.

#3 Things That Can Go Wrong

In case you are stuck, tearing your hair out, and ran out of new curse words 3 hours ago, I've got a list of everything I can think of that can go wrong in a home recording system. Maybe these will help you.

• The microphone or input source is malfunctioning

• The cable connecting the input source to the soundcard is malfunctioning

• The soundcard's guts are not getting signal due to the the wrong setting on the soundcard

• The soundcard's guts are not getting signal due to a malfunction in the soundcard itself (possible, but I wouldn't blame the soundcard until all other possibilities have been ruled out).

• The computer is not getting signal because of a fault in the soundcard

• The computer is not getting signal because the cable is not properly connected to the soundcard

• The computer is not getting signal because the cable connecting the soundcard and the computer is faulty

• The computer is not getting signal because the cable going into the computer has not been plugged in properly.

• The recording software is not getting signal because the soundcard has not been installed correctly.

• The recording software is not getting signal because the computer has not been restarted (which is often required before the drivers can be used.

• The recording software is not getting any signal because the soundcard has not been selected in Control Panels > Sound and Audio Devices. A great way of testing this is by playing a cd with Windows Media Player. You will find out if your soundcards is working with Windows. If not, there is no reason to complicate the matter by opening up your recording software. Only open the recording software after a cd plays through your studio monitors.

• The soundcards is not getting any signal from the computer because the recording software's outputs are not being sent to the soundcard.

• The track being played in the recording software is muted or the volume is all the way down.

• The volume is all the way down on the soundcard.

• The volume is all the way down on the studio monitor power amp.

• The studio monitors are not plugged in.

• The cable connecting the soundcard is not plugged properly into the soundcard's outputs or the studio monitor's outputs.

• The cable connecting the soundcard to the studio monitor is faulty.

• The studio monitor is faulty.

This is, by no means, every possible flaw, but it's most of them. If you can think of any other reasons that a soundcard may not work, please post them in the home recording forum. .