Hey guys. I’m new to Audacity and i’m having trouble with a few things but i’ll one at a time. I’m new to recording in general but i’m average when it comes to computer skills. I’m running a AT PL-120 onto a Dell Vostro 1400 with XP. Everything sounds good coming through the speakers but when i try to record it through Audacity it sounds really hollow and tinney. Here is a link to an MP3 that i’ve recorded and it sounds horrible http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3b1j2. I can’t really explain it, you’ll just have to listen to it. If you can give me any advice i would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Matt
It sounds to me like you’re getting phase cancellation. Can you post another quick clip where you leave the show in stereo? That clip is in mono.
Did you set Audacity to stereo when you installed it? Audacity is in mono after its First Birthday.
If you’re on Windows, you can tell Windows to record the straight show from the performance as well as a mix of the speaker outputs. The problem is the speakers can be a fraction of a second late giving you those flanging effects. It’s one of the things that can make recording on Windows so darn interesting.
There’s a thing about how to set up your Windows sound panel.
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Mixer_Toolbar_Issues#Using_the_Control_Panel
Koz
Here is a different clip in stereo. http://www.freefilehosting.net/download/3b2jj I haven’t got to look at that other link but i’ll look at it in a minute. But in the mean time, maybe this can help you to help me 
.
Thanks again
So i’ve been searching for hours online trying to find a solution to this problem but still haven’t had any luck. Everyone using SigmaTel High Def. CODEC seems to be having problems, and that is what i’m using. So is there any way i can bypass this and use a differend card. Some of the posts i read said to use Windows Mixer but I can’t seem to find it.
Anyways, this is just a little update. If you have any suggestions i would be open to them.
Thanks
A couple of extra words would make this so much easier.
“I’m running a AT PL-120 Direct Drive Turntable onto a Dell Vostro 1400 Laptop PC with XP.”
OK. Where’s the preamp and how do you have the two RCA cables from the turntable connected to your laptop? Do you have a Line-In connection? A lot of PC laptops don’t.
Oh, wait. More digging. This turntable has the preamp built in. Cool.
I’m not going to look up the PC. It’s too close to bedtime. Do you have a Line-In?
Koz
Yeah sorry. I guess i didn’t really give you much info. The turntable does have a preamp and the laptop does have a Line-In. I have the two connected by a RCA to 3.5 cable. When i have Audacity switched to Line-In the sound is coming in but it sounds like crap. Like i said above, i’ve connected the turntable to my stereo twice and it sound great. So it has to be the way the laptop is reading it.
Does anyone have any other ideas. I’ve searched almost everywhere. I’m not trying to be pushy or anything, but i’m starting to get desperate. I really don’t want to have to pay for some software.
Did you mess around inside the Windows Audio Control panels?
Time for desperation methods.
Can you make it worse? Is there anything you can do to change the distortion at all or make it a lot worse?
Dynamite the system. You know that you can launch Audacity and carefully click once inside the red record meters and they will act without making a recording? This is good for testing.
Do that. Play a record or performance and watch the bouncing red lights.
Go into the Windows Control Panel and turn everything off one at a time. Everything. Speakers, Mixer, CD, Mic, SPDIF, MIDI, Line-In, Headphone-Out, etc. etc. Everything. Sooner or late, Audacity is going to stop working. Turn that last control back up. Doesn’t matter if you can hear anything. Make a short recording.
Turn the speakers back on and play the recording. Does it sound OK? Almost all Windows problems like this can be traced to Windows having too many audio pathways open at once.
Koz
Ok, sweet. I’ll try doing all of that. It may be a little while before i get to though because my laptop charger just died on me. But i’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Thanks