Audacity Forum

I can record a track and then overdub a second track (I have the "Play other tracks while recording new one" option ticked), but the first track "leaks" onto the second track at an only slightly lower level. How can I prevent this?

The leaking seems to be occurring within the software or hardware on the computer, as I am not using any microphones or speakers, only electronic musical instruments and headphones via an external mixer, and the leaking occurs even when the mixer is disconnected.

The leaking also occurs regardless of whether the "Software playthrough" option is ticked or unticked (I normally leave it unticked), and regardless of which playback or recording device I select ("Microsoft Sound Mapper" or "Realtek HD Audio").

If you like to record or capture internet radio shows, you might have Windows Mix-Out or What-U-Hear selected to do this. You need to turn that off if you're going to overdub or perform sound-on-sound.

Koz

Thanks for your reply. I use this computer only for recording music using Audacity, and I am not aware of any settings such as "Windows Mix-Out or What-U-Hear". How can I check and disable such settings?

To put this in perspective, you just asked a Mac person how to deal with the Windows Control Panel.

There is a posted instruction set for this...

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

Most of that is for people who want to record from the internet. You want to follow the instructions backwards because you want to turn all that off.

...and further than that, we'll need to wait for a real Windows elf. Your complaint is typical of someone who has too many sound pathways open at once and that's typical of someone who likes to record from the internet. But it doesn't have to be. Do you use Skype or other phone service on this machine?

Koz

Thanks for your further reply. I use this computer only for recording music using Audacity, no other audio or video programs are installed, and I had not changed any control panel settings from the defaults. I followed the clues in your reply and found a "Stereo Mix" input channel in addition to the line and microphone input channels on the audio device, and when I muted it, the overdub leaking stopped. Thanks again for the clues.