Mono, Stereo, right channel, left channel

[DaveV]

Hey guys

I've been doing a bit of research and can't seem to find an answer to my problem.

under preferences i have the recording option as channel 2 (stereo). when i record a guitar track and then pan the channel to the left i have no guitar sound what so ever just a hissing noise, whereas once panned to the center or right the guitar sound comes out but only out of the right speaker.

Im recording using my jcm 900 with the line going directly into the line in jack of my computer. I have realtek hd audio manager that i use to manage the sound of the computer. Listening to any song on itunes or any video works fine thru all speakers so i assume it something i've set up or am doing incorrectly with audacity.

How do i fix this problem as i want to record guitars with one coming out of the right channel and the other coming out of the left.

Thank you

[steve]

If you are recording on a laptop computer there is a very good chance that the input is a mono microphone input.

Does your guitar amp have a stereo output?
Are you using a stereo lead?

I'm not sure why you're recording the guitar in stereo, I f you want to layer multiple recordings and position them in the stereo field, just record them in mono and use the pan slider to position them left/right.

[DaveV]

Im recording on a pc not laptop, i changed it to mono and no probs working fine out of which ever channel i choose, thank you

I've generated a click track to use as a metronome whilst recording which ill then delete that the end of the song but the problem im having is that the click noise is being recorded on each track i create and so does each previous recorded instrument, if i have played 1 guitar part then i record another im getting the click track, guitar 1 and the second guitar all being recorded at once again on the same track.

if i play a song or noise not in audacity ie (itunes) or an intermet generated metronome and im recording a guitar for instance it records the song being played and the noise in the other program..... Any pointers in how to fix this so that the only thing being recorded is what im playing thru the line in? Thanks mate

[steve]

Go to the sound card control panel/mixer (loudspeaker icon near the time/date on your Desktop) and set the recording input to "Line In" (Line) - you have most likely got it set to "Stereo Mix" (What U Hear).

[DaveV]

All working fine now, thank you very much!

Have any tutorials been made for bands wanting to make a demo with audacity i can't seem to find anything?

[steve]

One of our regular forum writers has asked a couple of times about a tutorial for multi-track recording. As with your question about tutorials for recording a band, no-one has tackled it yet. I've considered having a crack at it, but the prospect is quite daunting - there could be a 2 year course in "How to Record a Band" and it still would not cover everything, so how to trim that down to a single tutorial?....
Perhaps a "Case Study" would be useful? A step-by-step breakdown of making a simple multi-track recording?

[DaveV]

Im recording a fair few songs at the moment they're sounding pretty good. The style is hard rock, pop punk and a lil bit of metal. Once i put drums and vocals to it ill upload to our myspace page. all going well ill probably write up a case study as it'll be super helpful for people wanting to make band demos

[kozikowski]

One of the serious problems with multi-track recording is that very few people can do it with just their computer and a microphone or microphone system. So sentence one in the tutorial has to start, "Connect your external sound mixer..." and nobody wants to read that.

"Surely there must be a way to set up my preferences just right...?"

Many times, no. There isn't. A PC laptop and a microphone is not a Digital Audio Workstation. Macs don't support this at all. Step one is always shop for extra hardware whether you've been able to make good "straight" recordings in the past or not.

Koz

[DaveV]

I agree you're not going to get a magnificent studio top 40 sounding recording...but for say a band starting with not much $$$ its fine to make a demo with.

If you do have some $ then buy something like a line 6 tone port ux2 or use an effects pedal.

Im using a Marshall JCM 900 plugged straight into my line in port into the pc and an old school bass amp no external soundcard. There are some really good plug ins that kids can download if they dont have an amp or a external soundcard, http://aradaz.blogspot.com has a few that allows you to play the song clean first then change the sound of it, really easily and great quality to.

I'll also be using an electric drum kit

so ill see how it goes if it sounds half decent then i guess a "making a band demo case study" is possible. But once again i agree its not going to sound amazingly produced but it'll sound quite decent for a demo.