I got a new microphone recently and have been trying to record with it, a cheap Trust Starzz Microphone. However, it only wants to record in one channel. When I plug it into the rear Mic In port in my motherboard and record or listen to it, sound only comes from the right speaker. I have been able to record like this in audacity, then split the track to mono but I don’t want to keep doing this and I want to record in other applications as well. When I switch audacity into just recording mono, it only records the from the left channel which does not actually have any sound coming from it.
Can anyone advise on how to fix this in Audacity, or fix it across the system? I tried it on my laptop and it recorded on both channels fine.
If you plug in a normal (mono) microphone, and record in stereo. that should be recorded on the left (upper) channel in Audacity. Is it recording on the upper or lower channel in Audacity?
Sorry, I’m not clear about your answer, so I need to check (we can’t see your machine so we need to build a mental picture of what is happening).
So when recording your microphone as a stereo track in Audacity, you get a track with a wiggly blue waveform in the upper channel and the lower channel shows a flat line? Is that what happens?
When I record in stereo audacity only seems to record from the right channel.
When I record in mono audacity doesn’t record any sound at all, but you can see that it is trying to record from the left channel.
When I plug it into the rear Mic In port in my motherboard and record or listen to it, sound only comes from the right speaker…
…I tried it on my laptop and it recorded on both channels fine.
I’m guessing it’s your soundcard (soundchip)… I think the left & right channels are swapped on your motherboard’s soundchip. Or, it could be a driver. Or, I’m not sure if there is a Windows setting to swap the left & right channels… I couldn’t find it.
So… I’d start with what’s easiest and cheapest… First, I’d look for a Windows setting. Then check for driver updates. If none of that helps, and you don’t want to live with the problem you can get a new soundcard. (I’ve got an inexpensive USB soundcard that I bought just for troubleshooting purposes, so if it was my system I’d actually try another soundcard before looking for Window setting or driver updates.)
…I tried it on my laptop and it recorded on both channels fine.
It shouldn’t normally record to both channels… The mono signal should come-in on the left-channel hardware and be recorded to a mono (1 channel) file. Then when you play the mono file, you should hear it from both speakers.
Exactly. That’s what triggered the startled looks. Your soundcard appears to be backwards from everybody else’s.
I was going to look up your microphone, but I don’t think I need to. Mic-In on a normal soundcard has no right channel. That’s the connection taken up by the battery to run the computer microphone. Scroll down to the second illustration.
It’s highly unusual, but you could have two problems. The microphone put the sound where the right channel would normally be, and your soundcard has the ability to manage sound on both connections. That does happen occasionally.
I’m trying to find out what kind of microphone it is: Dynamic, Condenser, etc. The answer after extensive research? High Quality.
See? It says so in multiple places.
Koz
