I just made two test recordings. One using a USB Samson CO3U external mic and one using the built-in mic in my Surface Book. I was trying to make stereo recordings, but only the bottom track seems to be recording. The top track is barely recording and I cannot hear much in the right ear.
For some reason, I cannot attach files in this section, so I uploaded the screenshots plus one of the actual recordings here:
I am working my way through the tutorials, but I really need these narrations by tomorrow morning. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong and how to fix it?
The Desperation Method is record a single track and Audacity should call it “Mono” in the info panel on the left. Mono sound tracks will play to both left and right speakers and headphones with no further work.
If you really need two sound channels, Left and Right (I used to deliver voice tracks to the video editors like this because I knew the rest of their show was stereo), then you can Duplicate the track (Control-D) and go into the top track’s controls on the left and Make Stereo Track.
Technically, you have created Two Track Mono since Left and Right are exactly the same, but that will be our secret. It looks like a normal stereo track to everybody else.
Split the stereo track into two mono tracks, then delete the quiet (upper) track …
There is then only one track, but it’s mono so the sound should come out of both speakers/earphones.
BTW the “03 Samson CO3U mic” recording has two absolutely identical tracks, you can delete one of them, as shown above, and it it will make no difference to the sound quality, but reduce the size of the audio file.
BTW the “03 Samson CO3U mic” recording has two absolutely identical tracks, you can delete one of them, as shown above, and it it will make no difference to the sound quality, but reduce the size of the audio file.
Yes, I know. That was the result of following the instructions in a previous reply.
To record from the Samson CO3U microphone, you need to select the USB option in the 2nd dropdown box. If “Realtek high definition audio” is selected in that box, then you will be recording from the computer’s internal sound card rather than the external USB microphone.
You’re building a terrific case for broken headphones, or having analog headphones not plugged all the way in.
That stereo sound test is in four parts: Left-Only, Right-Only, Mono (both), and intentionally damaged stereo. They are identified in the performance. Which parts were missing and/or which parts did you hear?
You are quite right. It was the headphones. Sorry about that.
I couldn’t believe that it was the headphones because I had tried 3 different ones all with the same result. I was starting to suspect the jack. Then I listened to your clip again without any headphones at all. From the laptop speakers, I could clearly hear your left, right, and center audio.
If you want to record from the laptop’s built-in mic, select “Microphone Array (Realtek High Definition Audio)”.
“Microsoft sound Mapper” is the Windows virtual audio device that redirects audio (“maps the audio”) to a real device according to whatever is set as the default in the Windows Sound settings. I would recommend not using this option because you can’t see directly what physical device it maps to without going into the Windows Sound settings.
BTW#2 the “03 Samson CO3U mic” recording has had noise/echo reduction applied.
It’s perfectly clear what the person is saying, but if you don’t want those “enhancements” being applied to recordings you can turn them off in Windows sound-control-panel (recording tab) … https://youtu.be/sxnUjiGgBaI
![split to mono, then delete [x] the quiet track.gif](https://forum.audacityteam.org/uploads/default/original/3X/d/3/d3dc5ef4c2f194afdbbb16b4eb1a503b038c49d7.gif)