I’ve just purchased a “GGI Gear” tape player that connects through USB to record tapes through Audacity 2.0.3. (.exe) Everything works fine when I hear the sound through my headphones from the deck, but I’ve noticed that when the sound is playing through Audacity, the sound isn’t dispersed through the L and R speakers. Normally, with every song, there are parts of the song that you hear more toward the L speaker and R speaker. I don’t know if a term exists for what I’m trying to describe, hence the difficulty in describing it. The sound is properly dispersed when I hear it from the deck directly into my headphones, but not through Audacity. It’s just one constant and even stream in the “center” of the speakers that doesn’t move. My laptop (Samsung 530U, Windows 8) is not the problem because I also use a USB turntable and my albums record perfectly. Perhaps there is some kind of setting with my new tape deck that I’ve yet to adjust. Can anyone provide any assistance?
Normally, with every song, there are parts of the song that you hear more toward the L speaker and R speaker. I don’t know if a term exists for what I’m trying to describe,
it’s called “stereo”. Single-channel is called “mono” (technically stereophonic monophonic). When you play a mono (1-channel) file on your computer, the software/drivers send the signal to both speakers. (When you add more channels, of course you get 5.1 or 7.1 surround.)
Windows might “think” you have a mono USB microphone connected. There is some information on [u]this page[/u] about configuring Windows for 2-channel stereo.
The sound is properly dispersed when I hear it from the deck directly into my headphones, but not through Audacity.
That’s weird… The same data is coming through the USB port. Do you see two waveforms in Audacity, or just one?
Older tapes or homemade tapes might be mono. Most portable cassette players/recorders were mono. A lot of “record players” were mono. If you play a mono tape on a stereo tape player, you will get the same sound out of both speakers. All CDs are 2-channel “stereo”, but if you have CDs that were originally recorded in the early 1960’s or earlier they were probably recorded in mono and both channels on the CD will have identical information. MP3s can be mono or stereo, and when you play a mono MP3 you hear the same thing from both speakers…
Thanks for your response! I found the problem. When I go through Windows to view the recording properties of my deck, only 1-channel options show up. No 2-channel. Can that be changed or did I buy a deck for mono recording only?
The unit clearly has mixed reviews on shopping sites but I found nothing about that specific.
If the USB cable only allows mono recording then if your computer has a line-in, you can buy a stereo cable to connect from headphones out of the deck to line-in and set Audacity to record from line-in.
A mic input on the computer won’t help because it will either be mono or (probably) not well separated stereo.
Gale