Audacity Forum

Hi,

first time poster and only been using audacity for a week. I have been asked by a friend to see if I can get a USB turntable working for them as I have a bit more experience with computers etc. (but I'm no expert). I have managed to record an album, split up the tracks, burn them OK but the sound is terrible to be honest. I think that a lot of the problem is due to the quality of the deck and the stylus. I have managed to improve the sound marginally using some of the effects but there is a loud crackle on the left channel whcih I am guessing is an issue with the stylus or cartridge, is there a way to remove this kind of thing or lessen it's effect and are there any general tips to improve sound. Windows 7 and Beta version being used.

Dealing with this post-capture throgh software editing is NOT the way to deal with this (it's the good old GIGO rule I'm afraid: Garbage-In - Grabage-Out). With proper equipment prerly maintained and properly set up you should get a good clean signal into Audacty.

So yes you need to check the cartridge, its connections and the alignment of the catridge - and ensure that the headshell is properly secured to the arm.

It may be that you simply have a bad USB connection, try wiggling the USB plug (gently) in it's socket, or try a different USB socket. And your not using a USB hub are you - you shouldn't be?

Plus, since you've posted in the 1.2 section of the forum I assume you're using 1.2.x - do yourself a big favour and upgrade to 1.3.12, it is the recommended version for W7 - you can get it from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

WC

Also running 1.2 and am having trouble with unwanted noise.

I've got some old records I'd like to clean up. There's a lot of hissing and crackling and all the rest.

I tried the Noise Removal tool but, despite the fact that I had a good lead in segment from the record to take the sample from which was silent apart from the noise. (as per the instructions).

I then told it to 'remove noise'

What I got after that was not silence but what sounds like the chirping and warbling of a rather large and noisy bird.

The voice and other sounds had also been greatly distorted.


Anyone out there who could help? I'm running Vista, is version 1.3 better at this? I mean I don't expect it to be CD quality, but if the proggy itself says that it will remove the noise but, instead, turns it to bird chirps, I'm kinda confused.

Any help would be appreciated.

To avoid the "chirping and warbling", reduce the amount of Noise Removal. This will remove less noise, but will cause less damage to the remaining audio.

Rastus wrote: is version 1.3 better at this?

This can vary depending on the audio being processed, but generally the Audacity 1.3.12 version is better than the 1.2.6 version.
Since the release of Audacity 1.3.12, further improvements have been made to the noise removal effect and will be available in the next Audacity release.
Also, see here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Click_Removal