Recording Sounds like an Echo Chamber

[jdmiller]

Good Afternoon!!

I am new to Audacity with regards to recording from an external device. Today I have tried two different types of recording and resulting recordings sound like they were made in an echo chamber...

Recording 1: I ran a cable from the aux-out of a sound board to the mic-in of my Windows XP laptop.
Recording 2: I ran a cable from my Ipod to my Windows XP laptop

Some of my problems with recording 1 had to do with me choosing the wrong event when I plugged in the cable from the sound board. I was prompted to choose a supported function with regards to the "Audio System Event". I chose "Open IDT Audio Control Panel" and then did nothing other than start my recording. For whatever reason, this made my laptop into a very sensitive microphone that picked up every whisper that I made during the recording

With regards to recording 2, I chose "line In" when prompted after plugging in the cable and the "microphone experience" went away.

In both cases, the speaker in recording one and the singer in recording two sounded as if they were in an echo chamber when played back.

My Audacity recording preferences are set as:

Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input
Channels: 2 (stereo)

All other settings are set for default.

Thoughts as to why this is happening??

Thanks!!

[steve]

If you play sounds with other applications (for example Windows Media Player) does it still sound like it's in an echo chamber?

There will probably be a loudspeaker icon near the time/date on your Desktop. Open it up and find the Recording settings section. Make sure that the recording source is set to "Line" and not "Stereo Mix".

[jdmiller]

Thank you for your reply.

I initially listened to my audio via Audacity. Per your suggestion, I exported the file to an MP3 and then listened to it via Windows Media Player. I still had the same issue...

I then went to to my Sound and Audio Devices Properties, went to the Audio tab and selected Volume under the Sound Recording and selected "Line in" (Digital Mic was set as the default). I then reran my process from my IPOD but had the same issue as before...

[steve]

There will probably be a loudspeaker icon near the time/date on your Desktop.

Did you find this, or anything similar?

[kozikowski]

But if you play something you didn't record, it sounds OK?

http://www.kozco.com/tech/piano2.wav

Does that play OK? It's six seconds long.

Windows machines have this convoluted sound system that allows you to do strange and wondrous things and that's fine until you get lost. You are almost certainly recording more than one sound pathway. Typically, this involves the "Mix-Out" mentioned above. That's the recording pathway you need to record internet sound.

I don't remember reading you ever went into the actual Windows Sound Control Panel.

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

There are lots of control points for this. It's crazy-making.

Do you know where your little laptop microphone is? It can be a little hole almost anywhere on the unit.

I know this is a little upside down, but if you disconnect everything and turn everything off, can you make a clean recording from your built-in microphone? You'll need to turn the laptop speakers off, but it doesn't have to be Gettysburg Address. Just "Testing one two three." You can listen on headphones and monitor that way.

If that has echos, then we need to adjust the Windows Panels -- without all the other complexity.

Do you use Skype?

Koz

[jdmiller]

Thank you Koz and Steve for your replies.

Before I get into too much detail, I think that I should let you know the following:

I am using a Dell E6400 running Windows XP SP3.
The Dell comes with an IDT sound card running driver 5.10.0.6159 which I just updated via the Dell website.
I verified that my IPOD audio coming out of the device is good by connecting the ear buds and listening to one of my tunes
I verified that my external speakers are good by connecting the IPOD directly to the external speakers

With regards to your questions/ideas...

Steve:

I right clicked the speaker icon near the tray (by the date/time) and then selected Adjust Audio Properties. (As noted above) I then went to to my Sound and Audio Devices Properties, went to the Audio tab and selected Volume under the Sound Recording and selected "Line in" (Digital Mic was set as the default). I then reran my process from my IPOD but had the same issue as before...

Koz:

I played the piano wave file and it sounded fine.
I also discovered where my internal laptop mic is and tested it. It works fine, no echo.
I think your note about recording more than one pathway is on the right track.
I do not have access to Skype

Guys:

Koz's note about recording more than one pathway got me to thinking about what I am hearing. I enabled the Audacity preference Software Playthrough and listened to some other songs on my IPOD. In actuality, what I think I have is not an echo, but only one channel coming through from the IPOD. I am not sure if I am getting the left or right channel as Audacity shows both channels coming thru just fine. I tried changing the Audacity channel from stereo to mono, but this did not help...

Thoughts??

Thanks again for your help!!

[kozikowski]

<<<Recording 1: I ran a cable from the aux-out of a sound board to the mic-in of my Windows XP laptop.>>>

Remember that? You can't do that. Laptop Mic-In connections are mono and the computer usually splits the signal up so it appears both left and right in the show. But it starts out one signal and it's usually left.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audioconnecto ... ctors.html

The top illustration is what your mixer is doing and the bottom illustration is what you're computer is doing.

I thought we dealt with this already. Most Windows laptops only have Mic-In and you can't connect a stereo mixer directly. We reviewed several external USB sound cards as a way to get around this problem.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9477

Your description of the problem was typical of the rare computer that can switch between stereo and mono. So your machine isn't so rare.

Koz

[jdmiller]

Koz,

Looks like you nailed it!!

I also heard back from a buddie of mine around the same time that you replied. He recommended a Behringer UCA202 audio interface to get around the limitation of the mic-in input.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to assist me with me issue.

Thanks!!

Jeff