windows 7...audacity installed but sound is wrong

[gezfunk]

im hooking up my pioneer mixer to my laptop which uses windows 7, im using the audacity 1.3 beta as suggested, when i go to record the output is being recorded in a very distorted way, what are the main factors i should look for when setting up an appropriate output quality and volume?

i would venture in the sound settings on the control panel on my operating system, i am lost as to what to turn down/off/on...

any help would be great!!

[steve]

The problem is probably the laptop. Many PC laptop computers have only a microphone input and no "line" input. Microphone inputs are about 1000x to sensitive for a line level signal (such as the output from a mixer). Also, the microphone input is often mono and has a 5 volt supply on one of the connections. The sound quality is also usually very poor.

For all the above reasons it is generally preferable to use an external sound card that has line level inputs. I use a Behringer UCA-202 which is inexpensive but gives very good results. Unfortunately I don't think that the UCA-202 is supported by Windows 7.

[gezfunk]

ok, now ive installed audacity on a notebook using xp and it has a realtek line-in function and when i record its sounds very muffled, i can hear the recording but its poor, what kind of adjustments should i make, ive tried an awful lot but the end product always seems to be poor

[kozikowski]

If you jack your headphones into the mixer, it sounds perfect there, right?

Does your interconnection cable look pretty much like this...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027N ... AYC98J6AC3

The plug has to match exactly. Tip, Ring, and Sleeve. If it doesn't, you may have a mono adapter which will make your show sound very strange.

<<<realtek line-in function>>>

This is important. Most laptops -- we usually assume all of them -- have no Stereo Line-In connection. I think one of the early Lenovo laptops actually had a good Stereo Line-In. The list is very short.

Does it say the English words "Stereo Line-In?" I have seen Microphone Connections called "Mic Line-In" by reading the instruction books. I can't think of a better way to confuse the issue.

<<<notebook >>>

Which notebook? Exact model number.

Koz

[gezfunk]

its an advent 4312, havent seen anything to suggest its a mic line in or a stereo line in, it appears its a normal line in

sorry thing is ive used it b4 and its been fine, its been rebuted since, so im confused still on how to make it operational