Recording and play back

[doo wop daddy]

Help, I'm new to this!

When recording my songs they sound "tinney", they just don't sound right. If I plug in my Logitech ear phones Audacity goes flat line! Nothing, I don't get any recording at all. I can hear the music through my headset but Audacity won't record a thing Here are the specifics:
Audacity>preferences>audio i/o: playback device - built-in output; recording device - built-in mic; recording - channels: 2 (stereo). The only box checked is: Do not modify ...

Am using a MacBook using OS X Version 10.5.6.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks,

Daddy

[kozikowski]

<<<recording device - built-in mic>>>

You understand that you're trying to make a quality recording from the little built-in microphone hidden in the Mac cabinet? I don't remember where it is on a MacBook. Nobody will be shocked if you don't get a good recording from that.

<<<I plug in my Logitech ear phones Audacity goes flat line!>>>

Describe the ear phones. In detail. Model numbers.

Koz

[doo wop daddy]

They are the same ones I use for Skype. No model number on them. They connect to my MacBook through a USB cable.
I hope that helps. Sorry that they don't have a model number on them.

Daddy

[kozikowski]

That was enough. Skype introduces some interesting new rules in the ball game. In order to get Skype and Vonage to work, they have to grab ahold of the computer sound services very tightly and not let go. USB Services is another layer of that. Given Skype, when you plug the headset in (both headphone and microphone is more properly known as a headset) the Mac is primed to automatically turn its services over to it. Hence the sudden change in character.

It's possible to record from a USB microphone -- the headset. The trick is to get Audacity preferences to match the microphone. Here's how I did it.

USB Microphone
http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/USB_Microphone.html

If the Apple System Preferences don't work, try opening up...

Go > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup. and mess around in there.

Koz

[doo wop daddy]

I don't want to record from my headset. Am using it because others don't want to hear my music, they don't like rock and roll! I want to record from the internet. When I plug in the headset, Audacity goes flat line!

[doo wop daddy]

Thanks, Koz! It worked and I can record sound from my headset and the internet. The sound from my headset drowns out everything from the internet. I do get sounds from the internet, but very little even though I have my speaker turned all the way up. I think "we" are on the right track and I need to experiment a little. The first thing I will do is turn off the headset and see what happens.

Thanks for all the help,

Daddy

[kozikowski]

<<<I want to record from the internet. >>>

It would have been good to say that way up at the beginning instead of this side trip down microphone lane.

Download SoundFlower from the Apple web site. That will give you additional pathways so you can record directly from the internet without going through anything else. There may be a way to do it through a simple dub cable, but I haven't messed with this yet.

There is also WireTap, although that's gotten expensive with the more modern versions of OS-X. WireTap gives you connections into iCal so you don't even have to be home.

Koz

[doo wop daddy]

Part of the reason this all got started was that I wanted to record songs from YouTube off the internet using Audacity to create mp3 files. Am using my Skype earphones so nobody else has to listen to the music. I've got everything working now except that the music to Audacity is really faint even though I have my computer volume all the way up. Can you help with that? Sometimes I wish I could call (using Skype), it would certainly make things much easier!

I've gotten the sounds from the earphones fixed (Audacity would pick up the surrounding sounds in the room).

Thanks again,

Daddy

[kozikowski]

You're probably still recording the leakage through your USB headset rather than the real thing. It's extremely unlikely that you could record both internet and your voice at the same time.

You don't like the SoundFlower idea?

Koz

[doo wop daddy]

I'll give it a shot!

Thanks.