Audacity Forum

I have read as much information as I could about getting it to record for Windows Vista, I have "stereo mix" enabled and set as default, all the other recording devices are disabled. I can hear music from my headset but when I click record, it starts recording but the recording is blank. The Volume indicator next to all the recording devices is inactive as well even when playing music, whereas if i enable my headset mic and put it to the speakers, it is always jumping around.

My options under the Recording tab in Sound, when i have all devices showing:

Microphone
2-C-Media USB Headphone Set
Disabled

Microphone
Realtek High Definition Audio
Disabled

CD Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio
Disabled

Stereo Mix
Realtek High Definition Audio
Working

I set the rates all at 44100 and 2channel recording.

When I set my mic to default recording device and set audacity to record off of the mic it works just fine.


So it is recording the stereo mix, which is actually no sound at all? Or is my stereo mix just not what I want to be recording? I will just put a line in to line out if I have to but I would rather have higher quality and more than 1 channel?

Pleaes help me figure this out, would be much appreciated. Thanks

Recording "stereo mix" relies on recording from the same device that is playing the music, so to record computer playback with the "Stereo Mix: Realtek High Definition Audio" device you must be playing the audio on that device, not on the USB headset which is a different playback device.

So you will be able to record stereo mix while hearing it through the Realtek audio out jack, to which you could attach speakers, or the playback cable of a hardwired headphone or headset. In the case of a hardwired headset, the red mic cable would attach to the Realtek mic in.

Unless you are suffering noise on the inbuilt device, there is usually little benefit from a using a USB headset, compared to the downside of lack of flexibility and usually higher playback/recording latencies than a hardwired headset.

If connecting line-out to line-in (usually coloured blue), that will be a stereo input. Mic will be a mono input. If you cannot hear what you are recording in the headset when cabling the output to the input, you can try enabling "software playthrough in Audacity, or enable "listen to this device" by right-clicking over the line-in on the "Recording" tab of Sound, click "Properties" then the "Listen" tab.

Although it doesn't happen to everyone, please note there is an issue that 1.2.6 may crash on Vista (or Windows 7) when you press Stop after recording. If that happens, use Audacity 1.3.12 Beta instead,




Gale