Audacity Forum

As the title says, I've got a couple issues with recording from both the Stereo Mix and microphone options.

With Stereo Mix, the left channel (top) is screwed up. The right (bottom) is aligned with the center line perfectly, but the left is thicker or misaligned, as seen here: http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/751/stereooutjh9.png

With the microphone, both channels seem to be misaligned with the middle. This is with no microphone plugged in, but I get the same result with a microphone: http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/3553/microphonemk7.png

Can I fix these in Audacity, or is it an issue with my computer?

Yes, and yes.

You can clean up these tracks by applying the Normalize Filter and only click on Remove DC Offset (Do not select anything else).

Your computer is creating sound tracks with internal battery voltage leaking into the sound. I have one USB audio device which does that. I don't use it for good quality work.

If one trace is thicker than the other, then that track is noisy or damaged. My sister has a computer which does that. Zoom way in to the track. If the blue waveform is just random trash (grass), then the channel is noisy. If you get any sort of pattern like sine waves or saw-edge patterns, then the sound card is making it own sound and may be permanently damaged.

Koz