Audacity Forum

Well, that didn't work. Dig in the settings in this thread...if you have them.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 79&start=0

Conferencing systems have three settings to help you Skype. Auto Volume Control, Echo Cancellation, and Room Noise Cancellation (this one may have different names). Most people need to turn this all off. You may need to leave Room Noise Cancellation running.

What that does is try to figure out which sounds are air conditioner noises in your room and cancel them out. Sometimes, it tries to cancel out your guitar solo, too. If your show goes away or starts pumping, or you don't have these tools in the first place. You're dead.

You'll need to start investigating actual separate microphones.


After you get all that working, you can overdub multiple instruments, but that's an adventure because the process changes so much with each computer.

Recording YouTube is done with these settings...

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 79&start=0

To overdub multiple instruments, you need to turn those settings off. So you want the opposite of what it says in that wiki entry.

Koz

I believe that my fan turns on and off as the machine heats up. Do you have any recommendations for external computer microphones that aren't too expensive? By the way, I don't know if I previously mentioned this but the operating system I am using is Windows 7.

...the operating system I am using is Windows 7.

That means you almost certainly have the Advances Sound Settings (to be turned off), and you absolutely need to be using Audacity 1.3.12.

Since you're starting out, a microphone that does as many jobs as possible might be useful. This one isn't dreadful, although it is a communications microphone.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-co ... evices/221

This is how I used it...
And the attached sound clip is what it sounded like. I can neither play nor sing.

I didn't pay US$29. I paid more like US$19.

Koz

I was in the Executive Conference Room at work which is really quiet, has almost no air conditioning noise and very few echoes. This microphone is directional, so doesn't pick up sound from the rear. That will help if you have a room with echoes or other noises, but the quieter your room is, the better.

Koz

Okay, I turned those settings off which is what I should do when I am recording live and overdubbing right? I am using audacity 1.3.12.(beta). The microphone seems to have decent sound quality, thank you for the recommendation. What do you mean by if my shows goes away or starts pumping?

You might be able to leave some of those settings running to help get rid of the computer fan noise. It's not worth the additional complexity. Leave all those settings off and don't worry about it.

Does it sound better now?

Koz

Yes, the sound quality does seem better except for the white noise. Do you know of any other microphones that cost between the price of yours and $60 dollars?

Here is the microphone I plan on getting. Any comments?
http://www.amazon.com/CAD-U1-Dynamic-Re ... 754&sr=8-1

USB microphones have two important problems: You can't ever get any further than about ten feet from the computer (one USB or USB and extension), so if you have a noisy computer, that could be an interesting juggling act.

You're stuck with the electronics inside the microphone. There's no shortage of people on the forum complaining of very low volume from some popular USB microphones and that's just the way it is. Sometimes, when you amplify a tiny microphone signal enough to be useful, it gets noisy. Actually it's always been noisy, you just couldn't hear it.

If you're going to be seriously critical of the sound, you probably need to read this.

One of the elves created the longest message thread on the forum by simply asking about buying a microphone for his acoustic guitar. He eventually got something that worked really well, but it wasn't remotely what he started asking about.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 09&start=0

Koz