Noise gate effect problem

[pupty]

Everything in Audacity works fine except that in recording it has an effect like a noise Gate. As the music plays it is level but when vocals or any louder part of the song comes in the volume on the recording goes up noticeably and then drops dramitically when that certain part finishes making for a lousy uneven recording.. Any suggestions? Is it the sound card? When I first tried it out everything was fine but I couldn't adjust the incoming signal from my cassette deck and the incoming signal was too high. I then hooked up my stereo amp to cassette deck and adjusted volume down and it worked fine but after a couple recordings it started doing the noise gate symptom... Any ideas how to overcome this? I also have waveform software and it too has this problem so I am thinking it is within my computer. What can I change in my computer to stop this?

[kozikowski]

You have the symptoms of a sound system trying to manage a Skype phone call or communication session instead of a theatrical musical performance.

The settings for those services are all different but they typically appear in the Windows Control Panel or the control panel for your sound card. Look for Auto-Level, Auto Volume, Echo Cancellation, or something like that. Turn it all off.

Windows Control Panel
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... trol_Panel

Koz

[pupty]

I have no sound card icon in control panel. I have a sound icon but it gives no options as you suggest. I went into device manager and still no options as you suggest. I have Windows Vista, perhaps there is no option as you suggest in Vista. I must have a sound card because my conputer plays music with no problem and records from cd-rom to computer and burns and rips cds with no problem. The only problem is recording music to Audacity.. Perhaps an external sound card might work unless you got better suggestion.. Thanks

[steve]

On Windows Vista / Windows 7, the quickest way to access the mixer is to right-click over the speaker icon in the System Tray > Recording Devices. Or click Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound (if you're using "Classic View" there's a direct link to "Sound" in the Control Panel), then click on the "Recording" tab.

Are you using a Laptop computer? Are you recording from a microphone socket on the computer?

[pupty]

My computer control panel only has 'sound' and when clicked the only option in recording is the option to choose recording input like microphone or line in and thats it.. I cannot find any volume control or anything like it. The only volume control that my computer has is master and windows volume. Next solution?

[steve]

the only option in recording is the option to choose recording input like microphone or line in and thats it.

There are icons for "Microphone" and "Line In"?
Right Click on one of the icons and select "Properties".

[pupty]

I clicked properties and clicked Levels tab. Master volume was set to 3/4, main line to just below 1/2, line in same, 1/2, cd player same , 1/2, Microphone same, 1/2. in advanced tab sample rate and bit depth to be used when running in shared mode was 16 bit, 44100hz.. Sound device is a C-media AC97 audio device and thats all there was in the sound properties.. Still asking, any suggestions? Should I purchase an external sound card, might this solve problem?... Thanks

[steve]

IMO, for recording from a cassette player, a Behringer UCA 202 (or equivalent) would be a good choice.

[pupty]

What good would a mixing board do? It already is coming from the cassette deck to a great Denon amp and into the computer. The sound as it comes through the computer is great, the problem is with the playback where the volume fluctuates everytime the vocals come in or any where the sound graph enlarges and on parts where the graph lessons, the volume goes down in the recording. This makes for a horrible recording.. I need to know if Audacity can overcome this and how or where in computer can I shut this effect off.. The first couople recordings didn't have this problem but the volume was too high and Audacity couldn't turn it down so I hooked up my Denon amp to the cassette and this is when the problem arose.. There is nothing wrong with the Denon amp, it is a computer/software issue I strongly believe...I believe that id Behringer mixer was used, the problem would still be there.. Thanks..

[kozikowski]

<<<What good would a mixing board do?>>>

It's not a mixing board. It's a USB-based analog to digital converter that creates a digital bitstream independent of whatever crazy things your computer is doing.

You never specifically answered the question of where your external sound equipment is plugged in and whether or not you have three or only two audio connections on the side of your computer. It was a laptop, right?

Koz