I have two mics plugged in, I can record a stereo track with no problem, but when i try to record a 2nd track while listening to the first track (with headphones obviously), the 2nd track also records the first track.
I need to be able to listen to the first track because it’s a guitar recording (through the mics). The second track would be vocals (also with both mics).
I’m using Audacity 2.0.3 , I have selected the Stereo Mix in windows so that it records stereo, im plugging the mics to the sound card of the pc.
Stereo Mix is what’s sending the playback back to the new recording. Record from a real device like Mic-In or wherever you have your equipment and change Audacity Preferences:
“Stereo Mix” is a special “virtual” input that takes its signal from the output of the sound card.
This is not the right setting for recording from microphones.
How are your two microphones connected to the computer? Most computer sound cards only have one mono microphone input. Have you fitted some other type of sound card?
My sound card has a stereo microphone input (i have an external sound card m-audio fast track mkii but its only mono so i have to disable it it for stereo recording so that i use the one from the computer).
Both mics go through one stereo cable and are plugged to the stereo microphone input of the computer sound card.
I had to enable the “stereo mix” virtual input so that it recorded stereo, otherwise it would record mono. (if there is another way please let me know)
Sorry if i dont use the right words or terminology sometimes :S. If you need any other detail of my setup or anything let me know.
So, when you talk into one microphone the waveform appears in one channel of the recording, and when you speak into the other microphone the waveform appears in the other channel? Is that what it does, or does talking into one microphone appear equally in both channels of the recording?
(Sorry to be picky, but I can’t see your computer and I’m trying to get a clear mental picture of what you have)
In that case, yes it is stereo Thanks for clarifying.
I don’t think you’ve said which version of Windows you are on, and there are differences, but if you look in the Windows Sound Control Panel there should be settings to set the sample rate and number of channels for the microphone. Set that to 2 channels (stereo) and 44100 Hz.
In the Device Toolbar set the recording input to your microphone (not Stereo Mix) and the number of channels to 2 (stereo).
In “Edit menu > Preferences > Quality” set the default sample rate to 44100.
It’s looking like the problem is due to the sound card drivers.
In Audacity, click on “Help > Audio Device Info” (it may take a few moments for the info to pop up), then copy/paste the output into your reply.
What do you have listed there?
Is there one and only one microphone icon?
What is set as the default device (has a green tick in the lower right corner of the icon).
If the microphone is not selected as the default device, right click on the microphone icon (It should be labelled as “Micrófono (SoundMAX Integrated”) and choose “Set as Default Device”.
Right-click again over “Microphone” and choose “Properties” then look for an “Enhancements” tab where you can “Disable all sound effects” (if necessary, also look in the “Levels” or “Custom” tabs and on the main “Playback” tab for unwanted sound effects).
Click the “Communications” tab under “When Windows detects communications activity:”, choose “Do nothing”;
Right-click again and click Properties then the Advanced tab, and make sure the “Default format” is set to 44100 and the number of channels set to “2 stereo”.
If you can’t find or can’t set any of those settings, please describe what is happening when you try.
i did everything you said and it worked…i think the problem was in “enhancements” to “disable all sound effects” or maybe the “communications” tab to “do nothing” … those were the ones i had to change
Thanks for clarifying.
