Audacity questions

[Exalted Erick]

My microphone is 16 bit. Should I still use 32-bit float for editing?

My computer has two speakers, but I have only one connected. Should I record in Mono or Stereo? Is it possible to record in mono and play back in stereo? If so, how?

[steve]

My microphone is 16 bit. Should I still use 32-bit float for editing?

Processing audio in 32 bit is more precise (better quality) than using 16 bit, but uses twice as much disk space.
For simple editing (cut/paste, trim and delete) there will be no difference between using 16 or 32 bit.
Unless your microphone is pretty high quality the quality improvement of using 32 bit is likely to be negligible.

My computer has two speakers, but I have only one connected. Should I record in Mono or Stereo?

If you will ONLY be playing back on your computer then there is no point in recording stereo. If you intend to play back your recordings on other machines (such as burning CDs) then you should make stereo recordings and get another speaker connected to your computer or use headphones.

Is it possible to record in mono and playback in stereo?

A mono recording should play back equally on both left and right speakers.
Mono recordings may be either, a single channel track (for example when you use "Add track"), or a stereo track that has identical waveforms in both the left and right channels.

If you record mono sounds (for example using one microphone) and use the pan slider to shift tracks left/right, then the left and right channels will be different, and therefore, by definition, stereo.

If you have a stereo (2 channel) track with identical waveforms on both left and right channels, the recording is mono, not stereo. If you then apply a stereo effect to the track (such as G-Verb or Ping-pong delay) then the left and right channels become different and therefore stereo.

[Exalted Erick]

I use one microphone to record a cappella vocals that I upload to MySpace Music and YouTube.

Should I stick to mono for such basic use? Is there a possibility that some of my listeners may hear my music from only one speaker if I record in mono?

[kozikowski]

Post an address of some of your work.

You are the poster child for someone recording in exactly the right format given your performances. No, I don't think you will come out of only one speaker...but we're about to find out.

Koz

[steve]

I use one microphone to record a cappella vocals that I upload to MySpace Music and YouTube.

Should I stick to mono for such basic use?

Yes, stick to mono. Unless you do something odd it should come out of both speakers.

[Exalted Erick]

Koz, that's the thing...I don't know if I'm recording in the right setup. I use Microsoft Sound Recorder (PCM, 41.1 or 48 kHz, 16 bit, stereo) and a professional Samson Q1U USB Dynamic Microphone. Then I use Switch Sound Converter to convert the WAV files to 128-bitrate MP3s. My music sounds perfect in Windows Media Player and QuickTime Player, but it has crackles on MySpace and YouTube, so I deleted all my music online. I know MySpace and YouTube downgrade all audio to a 64 or 96 bitrate, but nobody else's music has crackles I've heard on MySpace or YouTube, so the problem must be Microsoft Sound Recorder. That's why I'm giving Audacity a tryout. I just wanna be crackle-free!

[Exalted Erick]

Koz, you can listen to my music at: youtube.com/erickcolletti. Use 50% speaker volume, or you'll hear a lot of static. I can't get rid of the static. I've given up. Nobody has a solution.

[steve]

You've recorded it too loud.
Somewhere in the process the signal level is too "hot".

When you record, the blue waveform should not reach the top/bottom of the track - if they do, then move away from the microphone or use the microphone applet to reduce the recording volume.

Before you upload to YouTube, do not "Normalize" (Amplify) the signal to the maximum amount - keep the peaks to a maximum of about -3dB.

[Exalted Erick]

I edited the file so all the peaks don't touch the top or bottom of the waveform, but still static on YouTube.

[steve]

Can you upload your original file to the internet and post a link here. I suspect that your original file is recorded at too high a level, but I would need to see / hear it to be sure.