horrible shrill sound under recording

[ducatilvr]

Hi, My name is Diana. This is my first try with this program. I finally realized my mic must be plugged in USB in back of computer NOT in the media portion on the front, but now and even when mic was plugged into media center, there is a horrible hiss, screech, shrill, high pitched squeal in the background. I'm going to play with some levels but some expert advice would be most helpful. I am going to try and record audiobooks and this program will provide me the opportunity to provide a demo for this opportunity and make more demos for voice-overs and such. Thanks for anyone's help. I appreciate your time and concern.

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[whomper]

sounds like feedback

if your speakers are enabled to play
and the mike is ready to record
and you get the mike too close to the speakers
you will get a squeal even if you are not doing anything
and usually while you are too

turn off the speakers in the pc options

if you are serious about doing voiceover or audio books
you may want to consider better equipment when you do it for real
usb mikes are cheap but not usually as good as a cardiod with phantom power and an external interface

usb keeps you close to the pc where the mike picks up noise from the pc too

[kozikowski]

Most live recording artists use headphones to avoid problems like this -- assuming your problem is feedback.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/wynonna2.jpg

Koz

[whomper]

why do you need earphones to record an audio book ??

they are to hear what the rest of the band/music is doing
so you can stay in sync

voice over or book recording does not need any headphones
is there some secret benefit that we are missing here?