bad recording

[Hills]

I'm trying to record my tapes,but after about 5 mins the recording becomes very distorted.
I'm using a external usb preamp,so when i monitor the input signal it is great,but the recording is not.

thanks

[kozikowski]

Since you're on a Mac, I personally would have connected the output of the tape machine to the high quality, stereo, Line-In of my Mac instead of the USB thing. It's the connector with the circle and two black arrows. Which Mac have you got?

Question Format
http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/question.html

Change the Apple > System Preferences > Hardware > Sound > Input to Built In Input and make sure Audacity is looking in the right place in it's preferences, too.

You might want to change Audacity preferences to 44100, 16-bit, Stereo if it's not there already. That's the Music CD sound standard.

If you're really compulsive, you can change the iTunes Import Preferences to AIFF Uncompressed and then anything you import can be made into an iTunes Music CD clearly, perfectly, and with no damage. Write down the old iTunes settings were so you can go back. This process is crystal clear and perfect, but it fills up an iPod really fast, too, so you may want one of the import compressors for that. For iPod, I use AAC-256 Stereo (Better).

You can make a Music CD with the iTunes compressed settings, but then you get a Music CD with the iPod distortions and damage.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Just to cover the bases, you can also get problems like this if you're filling up your hard drive.

Go > Computer > System Drive
File > Get INFO.

No System drive should ever increase beyond 90% full.

Koz

[Hills]

Thanks for your help so far.
I have a mac book pro. I was running from my tape deck to an artcessories USB phono plus computer interface V.2. to my lap top.
I was lead to believe the line in was not as good as it went through the sound card? And to use USB as it's more direct?
I was using an external hard drive for recording, would this be a problem?
Thanks again, I'm new to all of this so it's a bit of a learning curve.

[steve]

Laptop PCs audio inputs are usually rubbish, but I hear from everyone that on Macs they are really rather good (not sure if that justifies the price of a Mac though, but that's just me being tight). On a Mac, I would certainly try recording directly from tape out to line in and cut out the USB.

Recording directly to external drives is not really recommended (though I have often done so without issue). The "correct" method is to record to the internal drive, then Export or copy the final show to the external drive when you have finished (NOT the Audacity project files - the final Exported audio WAV, AIFF, MP3 or whatever).