Bluetooth headphones not listing audicity in sound manager

[burdie]

Hi guys, first post sorry it has to be what is probably a noob special but I have been searching for the answer for my query for 3 hours and havnt found anything on it. As the title says when I connect my bluetooth headphones to my PC they are not picking up audio from Audicity and it is still playing through the PC speakers, and when I go to sound manager I only get the option to modify Audicity sound under the Realtek speaker settings, it doesnt exist under the headphones. On Fri night I had the same proplem but totally lucked into them working, but with no idea how. Any feedback or ideas would be appreciated. My headphones are Sony Ericcson and Im using a Toshiba Satellite 500 series.

Cheers again

Burdie

[kozikowski]

Windows has to know what to do first -- always. If your PC speakers run no matter what, then Windows is sending the sound there. Go into Windows Control Panels and select your USB headphones for playback. Then go back and start or restart Audacity. Go into Audacity preferences and see if you need to change anything. If you do change anything. Restart Audacity.

Koz

[burdie]

Thanks mate, All I needed to do was go into preferences like you said and its sorted. One more thing, is there any tips on recording singing vocals? Im talking about managing loudness between softer and harder vocals and I really dont know how to use echo correctly

[steve]

One more thing, is there any tips on recording singing vocals?

There are books written on the subject.

A few quick tips:

• Watch your levels - allow plenty of headroom to avoid distortion.
• Record in a quiet room.
• Use a pop shield (blast shield)
• Be aware of the recording environment - a well damped room (lots of soft furnishings) will generally produce a cleaner recording and reverb can be added later if required (or use a close mic for a dry recording and a more distant mic to record the room reflection, then mix the two as required after recording).
• For novice singers, strap their head securely to an immovable object to prevent them from wandering off the microphone.

managing loudness between softer and harder vocals and I really dont know how to use echo correctly

I presume you are asking about "Dynamic Compression" and "Reverb".
See these pages in the manual:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... Compressor
http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... _-_Reverbs
and this page in the Audacity wiki:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/GVerb

Dynamic Compression and Reverb should usually be subtle effects. It is very easy to apply too much. It is always possible to add more reverb or increase the compression, but very much harder to reduce these effects after they have been applied.

Always keep a backup copy of the original, unprocessed recording.