Skip to content
Joining an event? Enter your room

Audio guide

Getting a mixing desk into SCAPTION

Captions and translation are only as good as the voice that reaches SCAPTION. This page shows how to get a clean voice from the speaker to the laptop, in four steps.

Also in Español

The one rule

The voice has to arrive

SCAPTION writes down what it hears. If the voice arrives loud and clean, the captions are right. If it arrives weak, far away or buried in room noise, words are missed and the translation suffers with them.

  1. Speaker
  2. Close microphone
  3. Mixing desk
  4. USB audio
  5. Laptop
  6. Captions

The golden rule

Microphone close to the speaker

The closer the microphone is to the mouth, the better the captions. Aim for a hand’s width: a headset, a clip-on (lapel) microphone, a handheld, or a lectern microphone the speaker stays at. Whoever speaks must have their own microphone, and it goes through the desk.

Close microphoneVoice loud and clean. Little else gets in.
Room (ambient) microphoneVoice weak and distant. Room noise, echo and other voices get in.

Use

  • Headset microphone
  • Lapel (clip-on) microphone
  • Handheld microphone
  • Lectern or gooseneck microphone

Do not use

  • Room or ambient microphones
  • Ceiling or table-array microphones
  • The laptop’s built-in microphone
  • A camera or phone listening to the room

A microphone that hears the whole room hears everything: the audience, the air conditioning, the echo. Captions then miss words, and every translation inherits the mistakes.

Four steps

  1. 1Send the desk into the laptop by USB
  2. 2Pick it in SCAPTION
  3. 3Test the sound
  4. 4Go on air and listen
1

Send the desk into the laptop by USB

  • Important: install your desk’s driver. Download it from the desk maker’s website and install it before connecting the desk. On Windows it is essential: without it, SCAPTION will not see all the desk’s channels or the Desk over ASIO option. On Mac, install it too if your maker offers one.
  • Best: a USB cable from the desk, if it has one, or a small USB audio interface between the desk and the laptop.
  • Use an output of the desk: an Aux send or the Main mix, with only the speakers’ microphones in it.
  • Plug it in before you open SCAPTION.
  • Do not plug the desk into the laptop’s headphone socket. That socket is for listening or for a headset microphone, not for what a mixing desk sends, and it may sound distorted or not work at all.
2

Pick it in SCAPTION

  • In the Audio card, under What is being captioned, the row Microphone or desk has a menu on its right. Open it.
  • Pick your desk by its name. If it has several channels, it appears in the Audio interface group (Mac) or Desk over ASIO (Windows), with its number of inputs. Once picked, the menu shows Channel 1, Channel 2… and you choose your microphone’s.
  • Not in the list? Press Re-scan. On the desk connection, open Desk connection at the foot of the card and press Re-scan audio interfaces (Mac) or Re-scan ASIO drivers (Windows).
3

Test the sound

  • Press Test sound and speak into the real microphone, at the volume the speaker will use.
  • Testing does not use transcription credits.
  • The meter moves, around the middle: perfect.
  • It says clipping: lower the desk’s output a little.
  • It says silence or barely moves: go to “If it stays silent”.
4

Go on air and listen

  • Start the event and watch the first minute of captions with the speaker talking.
  • Missing words? Bring the microphone closer to the mouth before touching anything else.
  • Use a wired Ethernet connection for the laptop, plugged into power.

If it stays silent

  1. On the desk: the channel is on, its Aux or Main send is up, nothing is muted. Check the desk’s own meter first.
  2. The cable is in the desk’s output, not in an input.
  3. The right input is selected in SCAPTION.
  4. The desk’s driver is installed (on Windows it is essential).
  5. The computer allows SCAPTION to use the microphone: Windows Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone, Mac System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone.
  6. Unplug and replug the USB, press Re-scan, and test again.
  7. Still nothing? Write to us before the event and we will look at it with you.

Several microphones, one caption each

If your plan allows more than one microphone, each speaker can have their own caption.

  1. Desk connection, at the foot of the Audio card: choose Audio interface (Mac) or Desk over ASIO (Windows) and, below it, your desk.
  2. Press + Add source once for each extra microphone. The number beside it (for example 1/4) is how many you have and how many your plan allows.
  3. In each row, pick its channel: Channel 1, Channel 2… Each row has its own caption.

If you do not see Desk connection, this install has no multi-channel driver: write to us. This mode is newer: on Mac it has worked with one professional interface, and on Windows it has not yet been confirmed with a real console. Test it with your own desk the day before.

Microphones per plan are on the pricing page. See plans

The day before

Ready to try it?

Start free and test your desk before the event.

Start freeSee plans