Playback audio swaps left and right after recording in stere

[kaputnik]

Hope this may be a common problem. After recording in stereo, I play back, and I notice the audio will pop back and forth beween left and right every now and then. It is very annoying. What is causing this? Can't get a good recording. I see that the section of waveform is transposed to the other track. It can last a second or it can last several seconds at a time. Thanks very much.

[kozikowski]

I hope you're recording a line level performance with your deskside PC, right? You can get this kind of thing if your connection to the sound card isn't firm. Moisten a paper towel with a bit of rubbing alcohol (a small dab of vodka will do, too) and rub around the contacts of the 3.5mm audio plug.

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

Rub again with a dry towel and plug it into the sound card several times. Make sure it's all the way in.

Did the problem clear up, or are you using some other way to get sound into the machine?

Koz

[kaputnik]

Thanks for the tip, but if the plug were not making constant contact, then wouldn't there be silent gaps? In my case the waveforms shows that the sound is being swapped left for right at random times for short periods. There's no silent gaps. Anyways, I cleaned the plug.

I am using line-in on my IBM laptop. Have Crystal sound WDM driver. Maybe a driver problem? No matter what software I use to record, it does this. Is there any settings on the driver itself that needs adjustment? Thanks for the help, Koz.

[steve]

Is it a "Line In" or a "Mic. In" on your laptop?

Are you saying that the left and right channels of a stereo recording swapping sides, or that you are recording a mono source as a stereo recording, and it switches from one channel to the other and back again?

[kaputnik]

I am using the line-in, not the mic input. I am recording a Stereo line input. As the wave unscrolls as i am recording, you can see that the left and right sides swap out occaisionally, and you can hear it on playback. I tried it also by unplugging one side of the stereo input, and recording only one side signal and the other side silence. As the wave unscrolls during recording, occaisionally audio that was going correctly to the left was momentarily diverted to the right (where silence or no signal was). This pops in and out randomly. And for various durations. Can't get a good recording. What gives??

[kozikowski]

<<<Hope this may be a common problem.>>>

Nope. First time for me. You can get what seems like channel confusion if your audio connector isn't plugged all the way in. The wrong gold contacts inside the computer will touch the plug, and it might change when the cat walks across the rug or the humidity goes up. But that's probably not what you have. You have a possessed machine.

Is there a good priest in your neighborhood? Good stock of holy water? Bible or two? Even if I break things mentally inside your computer, I can't even conceive of what I could do to force that to happen.

I think I'm on safe ground when I say that it can't happen once you get a digital bitstream. That narrows it down considerably. The problem has to be between the input cable and the analog to digital converter.


Now we do one giant step backwards and read everything again. You have an extraordinary machine. Windows laptops almost never have high level "Line-In" connections. How did you do that?

Koz

[kozikowski]

The ThinkPad instruction book I downloaded does indeed insist that the machine has a Line-In with no switching or other shenanigans. Let's assume they were consistent across the product line.

Do you know where Windows Audio Recorder is? Can you run that and get the problem? I think the software is crippled so that it has a restricted record time. Wouldn't want you stealing music or anything.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Forgive me. It's Windows Sound Recorder that's built into Windows. Windows Audio Recorder is a separate commercial product.

Good thing it's Friday.

Koz

[steve]

Do you know where Windows Audio Recorder is? Can you run that and get the problem? I think the software is crippled so that it has a restricted record time. Wouldn't want you stealing music or anything.

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2660

[kaputnik]

You have a possessed machine.

Is there a good priest in your neighborhood? Good stock of holy water? Bible or two?
Koz

I think you are correct. Got the Holy Water, and at least 3 Bibles. Priest is on the way.
Thanks Koz.