Audacity Forum

Hello. I've come across a very annoying problem. I use an external mic for my recordings. It works perfectly fine when I'm recording a track. However, anytime I want to record something while playing a song on the computer (ex. playing "Sunshine of Your Love" on the guitar, while listening to the song through the speakers), the track is overwhelmed by the song in a very loud volume. The volume of the speakers is irrelevant (I can turn them all the way down, but the song is still blasting on the track I am trying to record). Basically, any music or sound I play on the computer overpowers the track I am trying to record, to the point that it is unusable. This is clearly an annoyance; even if I import the mp3 file, it is the same result.

This may be a mic problem, or a speaker problem, or a computer setup problem; I'm unsure. However, I only experience this problem when trying to record something in Audacity. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

ApexGT wrote:This may be a mic problem, or a speaker problem, or a computer setup problem;

It's likely to be a simple computer set-up problem.
Open the Windows Mixer (loudspeaker icon near the clock) and have a real good look around it - there are recording levels, and playback levels, and advanced options in there. This is where you set all the relevant levels.
I'm hoping that you are on XP and not Vista - if it's Vista you will need to ask someone else.

Ah, you are correct. I had to mute the "Stereo Mix" option. Thank you very, very much.

And yes, I still have XP. Thank goodness.