Not hearing audio as I record

Hi
Ive got a tape on the music centre… cable from earphone socket into comp .

getting good recording onto audacity … but not hearing audio as I record

I need to hear it as there are 7 or 8 diff pieces on the tape that I want to keep as seperate digi recordings

Just went to pref… recording …

and saw the software playthrough box was nt ticked !

ticked it …

I went back hit … record… I can hear the audio but there is suddenly a strange echo effect with the sound
same on the recording I made !

this strange echo must be the result of ticking the playthrough box

wonder whats causing it ?

Correct. It is off by default.

Assuming you are still connecting into the microphone input of the computer, I suggest you don’t and buy an interface or a mixer that has a line-in, as you are discussing in one of your other topics.

As for the echo, try turning off the microphone or sound card enhancements: Audacity Manual.

If the echo is recorded, set the Audacity recording device to the input you connected to and not stereo mix.


Gale

I ve recorded this way before … no probs… why is there now a prob

I go back to pref… untick the playthrough box.

do another recording… blind… end result good audio recording

We cannot see your computer. I suggest you follow the suggestions made. Look for sound enhancements and turn them off. Open Device Toolbar and select the input device you are recording from.

Or wait until you have a proper sound device to record into. A computer mic input and computer sound card are often of poor quality and may not have the correct drivers. If you do not have the correct drivers you will get unpredictable results. See Updating Sound Device Drivers - Audacity Wiki.


Gale

Ive decided to go the blind route…

Im trying to get a 90 min tape onto audacity cant hear a thing… Ill just keep my eye on the blue

audio signal and make sure it does nt get too big or too small

I can readjust things of course with the volume switch on my music centre

Ive got all the plugs out of back of comp … just the audio in so its not the speaker cable causing th prob

its frustrating though

( could it be changeing to latest audacity a few months ago ? )

Audacity just takes the signal you give it. You would be better checking the things I mentioned. And if you have Skype running, you could try turning that off.


Gale

cANT see it being probs with sound card as… now Im recording blind

the end result audio is as good as ever in quality …

Just ticking that audio thru box somehow causes a terrible echo onto the incoming audio signal

I moved off the tape and recoded one of the radio shows… the aweful echo is still there .

Trouble is as I get known to do a few things on the comp the lady across the street brought over a Jim Revves tape today

can you put that onto disc ?

so Ive got to record all that blind too

Just ticking that audio thru box somehow causes a terrible echo onto the incoming audio signal

It’s not “somehow.” It’s a good bet you are recording all the sound playing on the computer (usually called “Stereo Mix”) instead of just the tape connection. When you turn the Audacity monitoring service on, it adds the slightly off-time monitor sound to the tape sound and you may even get feedback out of the deal.

Do you like to record YouTube or iTunes or other on-line sound? Those Windows and Audacity settings only work for internet sound, not for local tape recording.

We cannot see your computer. I suggest you follow the suggestions made. Look for sound enhancements and turn them off. Open Device Toolbar and select the input device you are recording from.

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

Have you done a screen grab and posted it?

I can’t find the help system about how to do that in Windows.

As we go.

Koz

I’m not a Windows elf, but it used to work by pressing PrtScrn (print screen) key to capture the screen video. Open Microsoft Paint and paste the image. Export as a JPG (jpeg) type of file and then post it on the forum according to these instructions.

https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-attach-files-to-forum-posts/24026/1

Koz

That’s still correct but a better refinement is ALT + PrtScr. That captures only the current window whereas PrtScr captures the whole screen.


Gale

So assuming you are connecting the cassette player to the mic input on the computer, your
Device Toolbar should look something like this:

Don’t choose the internal microphone if you see that. It should say microphone or external microphone.

Gale

instead of listening thru the tv monitor, I ve tried again and am listening
thru speakers… from cable out of back of comp

I ve unticked the thru sound button

Now Im getting sound ok thru the speakers… no echo

Im getting good recording quality on playback in audacity … no echo

So I think Im finally back to normal !

I ll go get that Jim Reeves tape in to try and get it over to disc

She s given me a dvd disc… that should still play in CD player s ( I hope )

When you use the computer speakers, XP probably plays the input through the speakers without you having to use Software Playthrough. If so, that is good, because there is no latency with that type of playthrough.

Even so, if you were recording the echo, something is not correct. You should be able to record from the cassette player without software playthrough being recorded.


Gale