Audacity Forum

Have downloaded and it works fine, but there is so much static on the playback, I can barely hear what I have recorded. I am working on an extremely simple podcast, straight from my laptop. I have reviewed the previous posts, but none of the fixes actually worked. Any suggestions or help? I need to get this fixed and get the cast recorded asap. Do I need an external microphone?
Thanks!

PC Laptop built-in microphones are usually rubbish quality.
An external microphone will make a big improvement, but the microphone inputs on laptops are also usually pretty poor.
If you're looking for at least half decent sound quality for voice recordings on a PC laptop with minimal expense, a USB microphone is probably the best option.