Recording Audio via headphone jack

Bingo! I googled the specs on your DJM400 mixer and it has RIAA EQ on the phono inputs. So all you would need is an external USB audio interface (what you called a sound card). Notice in this photo of the back of the DJM400 there are two stereo inputs that can be switched between Line and Phono. In the Phono setting RIAA EQ is enagaged and of course this is where you would connect your turntable.

You will still need a USB audio converter between your DJM400 and your MBP. Be warned, there are a lot of cheap audio converters many of which look like cable adapters ... I would not trust any of them to perform. I'd suggest a Focusrite, Presonus or similar 2-input audio adapter.

deadwreck3000 wrote:

I want to record a vinyl mix into my MacBook Pro 14” 2021

There are a number of challenges here.

Apple removed line-input capability from Macs quite a few years ago (around 2015). Even if you could rewire to a 3-ring plug as suggested earlier, with your Pioneer DJM400 you would be running a line-level signal into a mic-level input ... and you would overpower the Mac's input, probably introducing distortion and perhaps risking ruining the input.

Second, all vinyl recordings were done with an EQ called RIAA. You really need this EQ if you want a quality capture from vinyl. Without the RIAA EQ, your digital recordings will have weak bass and excessive treble. Some people feel they can overcome this just by increasing bass & reducing treble but the RIAA curve is not linear and anyway the bass & treble controls only affect a narrow frequency range each whereas the RIAA EQ covers the entire audio spectrum.

What you really need is something that will give you RIAA EQ (aka phono) and convert to USB. Here are a few such devices:

• Dynasty Proaudio UA2D
• ART USB Phono Plus
• Rolls VP29 Phono Preamp

In my own case, I use my (vintage) Yamaha amp that has a phono input (RIAA) and line output. The line out is connected to a stereo input on my Mackie Mixer, and the mixer's USB output is connected to my Mac. I use Felttip Sound Studio to do most of my recordings but lately have been experimenting with Audio Hijack because it has built-in noise reduction that works really well in real time during capture.

In those cables with three RCA plugs (yellow, white and red), the yellow one is for video.

Since you already have a cable with two RCA on one end, and a stereo minijack on the other, all you need now is a simple and inexpensive adapter like this one:

Plug the existing end of your cable to the pink receptacle, and plug the black into your mac.

(the green can be used at the same time to connect headphones).

Some very good points.

I forgot about the line level vs muc level issue.

A cheaper alternative, if one can find it, may be small device that supports both mic level and line level inputs and connects to a mac vis USB. I have had this , the Griffin iMic, for about a decade, and it still works, without the need to install anything, in Monterey. The problem now may just be to find one.

deadwreck3000 wrote:

Thanks for your response. Just wondering, when using your griffin Imic, do you encounter any of the EQ issues mentioned above by MartinR?

Thanks

I only used it with vinyl a long time ago, and do not have any turntable I could test with. AFAICR, it worked fine.

Not all 3.5mm jacks are equal.

You need one with three rings, not just two - those will work to produce audio output from your mac.