Suddenly, poor quality

Hey, folks,

I bought a Tascam DR-5 digital recorder so I could copy some stuff for practice. I’m using a 4 year old laptop I bought new, running Vista. I record from my headphone out on the laptop to line in on the recorder, then from headphone out on the recorder into mic in, into Audacity on the laptop.

The first few went fine, good sound quality. Then after an overnight break, my stuff in Audacity sounds like it’s underwater. On the recorder, it sounds fine. I’ve tried adjusting the output level on the recorder, input level in Audacity, to no avail. Any ideas?

Full disclosure, I am 48 hours new to Audacity and may have fooled around with settings without putting them back where they were.

I apologize if this has been covered before, the Force is not now, and never has been, with my search-fu.

Many thanks in advance.

headphone out on the recorder into mic in, into Audacity on the laptop.

That’s the first problem. The Mic-In on most laptops is mono, not stereo and very prone to distortion. We recommend the UCA202 (or equivalent) for a good stereo Line-In.

Windows machines are set from the box for corporate conferencing, not stereo recording.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_copying_tapes_lps_or_minidiscs_to_cd.html

Koz

Sorry. One more.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#enhancements
Koz

I record from my headphone out on the laptop to line in on the recorder, then from headphone out on the recorder into mic in, into Audacity on the laptop.

Your TASCAM has a USB port. If you record with the TASCAM, you can transfer the file digitally into your computer via USB. (No need to “record” the audio out of the digital recorder.)