distortion in phones while recording

[juliakasdorf]

Howdy. Sometimes, but not always, when I'm recording, the tracks I've already recorded are distorted in my headphones. I'm trying to sing a nice vocal but the guitar sounds totally distorted, like I'm overdriving somewhere along the signal chain. Then when I play back, all sounds well again. I've swapped headphones, and there is no change. Sometimes it sounds fine, sometimes the very same tracks will sound horrible. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[kozikowski]

Just so we're clear. You record vocal and the guitar sounds distorted. Stop, Edit > Undo, and do the exact same thing again only this time it's clean? Can you try that next time it does it?

Sometimes, Audacity will mix down from multiple tracks to one single presentation, and sometimes it just adds up all the tracks and have a happy day. If you like to capture live performance up near "0" on the meters (a very dangerous thing to do) then it doesn't take any effort at all to make you sail into distortion.

Next time it does it, select all the existing tracks and Effect > Amplify > -3dB. See if it's still distorted. You can always adjust final volume just before export.

Koz

[juliakasdorf]

hi k. Thanks for writing back.

The distortion is not caused by recording levels. The only time it occurs is when I am recording new tracks, ef, only the tracks i laid down before are distorted in my headphones. Stop recording, and the tracks in my phones are fine. I believe it is a monitoring issue. What are the gain stages in headphone monitoring, and where can I adjust them? Thank you for taking the time to address this.

[juliakasdorf]

hi, koz. I tried the -3 Amplify move nothing changed. The tracks that sound fine normally sound terribly distorted when I am RECORDING. I thought the Green Input Meter were supposed to manage and reflect this phenom, but no amount of sliding on Mixer bar changes the fuzzy recording experience.

[stevethefiddle]

Stop recording, and the tracks in my phones are fine.

Are they fine when you play all tracks together?

What happens if you do this
1) Open Audacity
2) Generate 30 seconds of Silence
3) Record something onto a new track.