I am on Windows XP, and could not figure out which version Audacity I have. Sorry!
I have been doing my amateur work on Audacity without problems.
Recently I have transferred two old-fashioned tapes into mp3 and all worked well.
When I did the third tape, upon playback the recorded version came out with an ongoing background buzz, whose source I could not detect.
When I replayed the previous two pristine tapes both from .mp3 and from .aup they also started playing with that same background buzz.
I guess something may have changed inadvertently in my audio set up that is causing this problem.
Would there be any help for a seventy years old relative novice willing to learn?
Many thanks indeed.
Did you run out of USB ports on your computer and decide to use a USB hub? Normally, this is a terrific idea, but audio doesn’t much like going through hubs with other equipment like keyboard and mouse.
Launch Audacity fresh and Generate > Silence. If you play that, is it staticky?
Koz
Thank you very much indeed Kozikowski.
I have followed your instructions verbatim. I first disconnected the outside speakers’ cable from the hub; I then generated silence through AUDACITY and re-recorded a section of a musical piece for testing purposes.
To listen to what I recorded I re-connected the speakers to the hub, because for some reason I cannot play through the laptop internal speakers for testing purposes. As I pressed Play, the silence remained silence with no static whatsoever. However a much fainter version of the buzz appeared at the beginning of the piece, which could also be detected in the background while the music was playing back.
The problem could well be the outside speakers and/or the plug connected to the hub. Mind you, the speakers cable I have is not a hub cable, but an old fashioned one with a small round plug. Perhaps this is sending me a signal that it is time to buy a pair of decent speakers with a hub cable instead of the old round plug. I do have an extra free hub intake on the laptop.
Thank you very much once again.
H a s s a n
for some reason I cannot play through the laptop internal speakers for testing purposes.
It’s easy to get sound routing all turned around. We should probably wait for one of the Windows people to help. If your testing tools don’t work right, then you may just go round and round in circles.
Koz
Once again many thanks.
While still attempting various moves to find the culprit that’ causing this buzz, I am looking at the same time for advice from a recording studio in Ottawa - sadly enough, most of them went out of business because of the economic situation - and those left work with MAC.
Most appreciated.
H a s s a n
Thank you very much indeed for your help. Believe it or not, I have finally managed to solve the buzz problem by connecting the tape deck to an amplifier first, then from the latter to the laptop. The hiss is gone one hundred percent.
Warm regards;
H a s s a n