Recording playback sounds distorted

Audacity Help Forum macOS
1

Hi there!

I have a question regarding the playback sound of my recordings.
Besically I was recording yesterday and everything worked fine. Today I tried recording in the same setup and the playback sounds very distorted. Like it is recorded to loud, but it actually isn’t. I played around with input volume but that doesn’t seem to do the trick.
This is my setup

  • Imac with High Sierra
  • Behringer microphone
  • M-audio audiophile interface
  • Behringer mixer

The strange thing is that with the Imac’s internal mic the recording playback sound fine. But with the behringer it sounds distorted.
Also I tried to record sound in Garageband using the behringer mic. In Garageband the sound is great.

So in conclusion, eveything works great in garageband, but not in audacity. By the way, I didn’t do anything with settings. Just selected the M-audio audophile as the input device, like yesterday when it worked fine.

Is there anyone who can help me resolve this issue?

Kind regards,

Wesley

2

How do you have this set up? How exactly are all the bits connected? (including your headphones).

3

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your answer. I am sorry but I completely forgot about the question I asked here.
M-audio audiophile interface is connected with the imac via USB
Behringer mixer is connected with the M-audio audiophile interface via 6.35 jack (main out mixer to main in interface)
Microphone is connected with the mixer via XLR
Headphone is connected with the mixer via 6.35 jack.

The weird thing is that sometimes it works fine and sometimes it doesn’t.
today for example the recorded sound sounds very distorted.
When I reset the program it probably will work again. It is just so random.

4

Which exact model is that?

Which exact model is that?

Guess what :wink: Which exact model is that?

That’s interesting.
Please post a short audio sample (just a few seconds) in WAV format from one of your bad (distorted) recordings.
See here for how to post an audio sample: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-post-an-audio-sample/29851/1

5

Dear Steve,

Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it.
The M-audio audiophile interface is: It just says audiophile USB (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/272070-REG/M_Audio_9900_50727_00_Audiophile_USB_Audio_Interface.html)

Behringer mixer Xenyx 802

The microphone is actually Devine M-mic XLR

Attached is a small wav file on which I say: Let’s check if this recording sounds fine, but it sounds distorted as well

6

There’s a few different problems with the sound.

At the start of that sample, the recording level is too high, causing the waveform peaks to be clipped off.

There are many discontinuities in the waveform. See the section “How can I prevent clicky recordings on Mac?” in the FAQs: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#mac_crackle

Even when you get this working properly, the reviews for the “Devine M-mic XLR” do not look very promising. For example the review here https://www.google.com/shopping/product/9321613382391468379?q=Devine+M-mic+XLR translates as:

The price to the product is downright a bad microphone. has way too much noise of its own. so not recommended.

(this was the only review I could find for this exact model).

7

Dear Steven,

Again, thanks a lot for looking into this.
I understand your concerns regarding the microphone. It is indeed a cheap mic, which I bought for starting to record a podcast (you have to start somewhere :smiley: )
I still don’t understand why sometimes it works fine and sometimes it doesn’t.

I also use the same setup with a windows pc, this works fine as well.

Anyway, you did you absolute best to help me and I understand with the limited data you’ve got from me, a “solution” is difficult.
I will try to improve with the data you gave me :slight_smile:

8

See the section “How can I prevent clicky recordings on Mac?” in the FAQs: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#mac_crackle