Distortion

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi folks
I was recording all day with the same settings, same mic, same A>D converter, cables etc.
At one point I encounterd the distortion heard on the attached .aup file and I have no idea where it came from or how to fix it. I do know that clearing the file from the destop and re-recording stopped the distortion but a random problem like this can be disastrous.

Running Audacity 2.1.1
Windows 10
Presonus Audiobox directly wired to the computer.

Thanks in advance
Bob H
Sample For Audacity Forum.aup (19.3 KB)

2

An AUP file is not an audio file. Please see How to post an audio sample.

Also see http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#sync - scroll down to “To fix speed drift, pitch and quality problems, try the following tips”.


Gale

3

but a random problem like this can be disastrous.

This is going to sound “defensive”, but it’s usually not “Audacity’s fault”. During recording, Audacity has a fairly simple task of capturing the audio data stream from the drivers and sending it to your hard drive in a particular format.

People who are serious about recording often have dedicated computer that doesn’t get messed-with. If the computer’s settings/configuration/applications aren’t changed, you are less-likely to have random problems.

And if you’re recording something critical where there’s no chance of “take two”, you should have a separate back-up system recording in parallel. (That 2nd recorder doesn’t have to be a computer.) …Computers are the least reliable gizmos we own! …Mostly because we mess with them.

4

Attached audio sample
Note…a totally random problem…one good recording…(no setting changes)…one bad recording.
Audacity was closed and reopened…next recording wa flawless

5

I think there is suspicion of dropouts so also look at http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Managing_Computer_Resources_and_Drivers.



Gale