How do I do this?

[JakeZ]

Hi,
I'm trying to do something that must be possible with audacity, but I just can't figure out how to do it.

I want to have a friend listening to music from my computer with headphones.
I want to simultaneously record my voice talking on top of the music. I want my friend with the headphones to hear both the music and my voice.
I want to produce at the end, a recording that includes both my voice and the music.

What seems like it might work is to play the music track on Windows Media Player while recording voice on audacity. Then once voice is recorded, paste the music track into the audacity project. But with the USB mike I'm using, you can't hear my voice thru the headphones while I'm recording.

Can I fix that by using a "line in" mike? Is there an easier way to do this whole process?

Thank you, Audacity geniuses!

[steve]

But with the USB mike I'm using, you can't hear my voice thru the headphones while I'm recording.

That's a limitation with most USB microphones (some have a microphone socket built into the microphone itself to workaround this limitation, but most don't).
It is possible to make the sound from the microphone come out through the headphones by enabling "software playthrough" but an unfortunate side effect is that it will usually introduces a substantial delay, so the voice will be way out of time with the music.

Can I fix that by using a "line in" mike?

Usually yes.
The configuration that is required is to set the sound card to play sound from the microphone input. This is a sound card setting and nothing to do with Audacity.

Is there an easier way to do this whole process?

Yes.
Import the music into Audacity before you record. Audacity is able to play existing tracks while recording a new track.
The basic method is described here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Creat ... h_Audacity

[JakeZ]

Thanks so much! I'm off to look for a good quality, fairly cheap line-in microphone.

[kozikowski]

Maybe not so fast. They don't generally make those. What they do make is "regular" analog microphones that plug into a sound mixer or microphone amplifier and that plugs into your computer. But not if you have a Windows laptop. Many of those don't support connections like that.

You never said what kind of computer you have.

Koz

[JakeZ]

I do have a laptop running Windows XP. Is there any hope for me?

[kozikowski]

<<<I do have a laptop running Windows XP. Is there any hope for me?>>>

No. None at all.

Buying a microphone is a lot like buying shoes, cars, or TVs. What kind of shoe/car/TV should I buy?

There was one USB microphone that had a mini-production package built right into the base. You plugged your headphones into that instead of the computer. I gotta dig for that one.

Koz

[steve]

The main advantage of USB microphones for use with PCs is that they include their own "sound card" (the conversion to digital is done inside the microphone).
This means that they totally bypass the built in sound card. PC sound cards are optimised for the best playback quality at the lowest price - consequently they are usually very poor quality for recording. There's not much point in getting a decent "conventional" (non-usb) microphone unless you also upgrade the sound card.

Prices for a reasonable USB (input + output) sound card with built-in microphone pre-amps start at around $70.