Audacity Forum

<<<RCA-to-1/8" stereo cable from the Record Out RCA (not powered) output of the mixer to the Mic In jack in the laptop.>>> That's the step that most people can't do. The Stereo Line-Out of the mixer is high volume level and the Mic-In of the sound card is expecting a very, very low level mono m...

And you're absolutely sure the problem is record and not playback? Do the errors always occur in exactly the same place every time?

Koz

What's the goal? What are you recording and how is it connected and to what? Pretend I'm trying to connect my sound the same way you are. Audacity is aggressively non-real time. No effects or other craziness until post production. There is a tool that allows recording only if the volume goes over a ...

It's still important to know os and processor. Apple > About This Mac. Processor and Version.

Koz

Intel Mac? Audacity does tend to be the coal mine canary. If it falls over, you want to get out of that mine. Do you know how big your system drive is and how full it is? Go > Computer > Control-Click on your system drive > Get INFO. Audacity collects shows in little fragments and snippets and keeps...

Did it do that before or after you tried to Save a Project? Don't do that. Always Export As WAV to get a good stable sound file. If the recording crashed, then we got other problems. How much room do you have on your hard drive and how big is it? Go > Computer > Control Click on the hard drive > Get...

<<<when someone asks me what software I recommend for doing this....>>> Is that rhetorical? Was there a setting for GemSound in Audacity Preferences? Were you able to reset the sound settings to 44100, 16-bit, Stereo? Sometimes you need to restart Audacity to make the settings stick. Koz

I wouldn't be doing this in Audacity. I'd be doing it in the Windows Control Panels. Windows Control Panel http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mixer_Toolbar_Issues#Using_the_Control_Panel But then, probably with a laptop, I wouldn't be doing it at all. Does your laptop have Stereo Line-In? ...

<<<if you are going to use Skype>>>

You might not need to with Skype. Skype is pretty vicious about setting itself up and it doesn't care what anybody else thinks. That's why it causes so many problems with machine setup for other programs.

Koz

Back up one step. Nowhere in that do you tell us what you're trying to record. Speaking into the built-in Microphone? Does it even have one?

Koz