Issue with using mike and Vista (Audacity version 1.2.6)

[tonyp2604]

Hi there,

I have been using Audacity for about 4/5 years on an older PC. However, I am trying to use my wife's laptop to record some songs/piano that my daughter has written. If I put the mike into the laptop (indicated with mike symbol) and open the Audacity program - I then go to the "file>preferences>audio I/O>recording device" bit. What do I select from the pull-down menu? (I have a choice of Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input or the Microphone Realtek).
I tried an experiment - I unplugged the mike and tried recording using both of the above settings - each time there was sound recorded. I thought that plugging in the mike would mean that the laptop's internal mike would be disabled, but it appears that it isn't. That is why the quality is not that good and it sounds as if there is a small amount of "feedback" type distortion when I record using the plug-in mike. I think it is actually recording from both mikes.

I found that the only way to overcome this issue is to block up the aperture where the internal mike is situated.

BTW - my wife's laptop runs Windows Vista.

Is there anyway round this problem? Any help would be really appreciated.

Tony.

[kozikowski]

It's usual for all the recording sources to go to a control panel and give you the ability to adjust the volumes.

Windows Control Panel
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... trol_Panel

Koz

[steve]

Also here:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ng_devices

[tonyp2604]

Thanks guys.

I will have a look at the tips later and see how I get on.

Cheers - Tony