haven’t recorded vinyl in a long time but was never a problem before. Using an audio technica AT-PL50 with windows 11. Am getting clipping regardless of volume (screenshot attached). RCA outputs from turntable are converted via cable to 3 mm plug in PC. I enabled stereo mix but couldn’t seem to get line in enabled. When I enable 3mm message is not plugged in. Is it a bad cable possibly? Thank you for any advice.
You need to plug into line-on on your soundcard. Does your soundcard have a line-in connection? It’s usually color-coded blue. A line-level signal is about 100 times stronger than a microphone signal.
Some soundcards don’t have a separate line-in connection but there is a utility to choose the function, and sometimes when you plug something in, it will automatically ask, “What did you plug in?”
And make sure to select the line-input in Audacity, not Stereo Mix.
If you have a laptop it probably doesn’t have line-in. In that case, you’ll need a USB audio interface with line inputs. The Behringer UCA202 is popular and inexpensive or there are a couple of similar Behringer interfaces including one that has a switchable phono/line input. But the “cheap” Behringers don’t have a recording level control and some people get clipping. I have an ART USB Phono Plus ($100) which has a recording level knob and a switchable phono/line input. Or there are lots of higher-end audio interfaces with switchable mic/line inputs.
Thank you. When I read the word “blue” something clicked. Changed input to blue 3 mm plug in and took care of problem. Neither input is actually labelled but they are color coded thankfully.
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