Recordings are sped up when played back

[filter2700]

So, I've been having this problem not only with audacity but with windows sound recorder. I record something simple like "test, test" and when I play it back it gets sped up and sounds like something from the chipmunks. This happens when I use audacity and windows sound recorder so does anyone here have any idea what could be causing this issue? Is it my headset? I'm using the microphone from my headset. Do you think it's my sound card? I'm trying to record voices for an animation and it won't work if the voices are all sped up, here's a quick example I recorded (in audacity) to show you what its sounds like - click the attachment.

Thanks!

[kozikowski]

You almost told us what kind of headset you have. Model Numbers. You can't give us too much information and detail.

Koz

[filter2700]

I'm running vista home premium, 32bit. It's a steelseries 4H, a relatively nice headset. I bought a cheap new sound card a couple months ago cause my nice one broke, I'm not sure if that could have something to do with it. The soundcard is a c-media pci card (I believe it is this one http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsDetail ... &PSerno=30 but I'm not sure, it was around $10 but I don't think the sound card is the issue here), I have checked the drivers and they are up to date.

Could it be a setting in the "sound" box (playback, recording, and sounds) thats speeding it up? This is very frustrating. Thanks.

[steve]

Go into the sound card recording settings (there may be an icon near the Time/Date on the Desktop, otherwise you'll find the settings in the "Windows Control Panel > Sounds") and set the Recording Quality for the microphone input to 44100 Hz CD quality mono.

[filter2700]

I did that, and its still sped up. Argh

[Gale Andrews]

It is usually a problem with sample rates, but often is not as simple on Vista and 7 as choosing 44100 Hz - you have to match rates with "Default Format" in "Sound", or use "Exclusive Mode" and make sure the rate you use works with the card and is the same everywhere. The recording and playback sample rates must be the same too. Read:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windo ... mple_rates

Also make sure in Audacity that the recording and playback device is the same.

Also turn off all the effects and enhancements in the sound card control panel.





Gale

[filter2700]

Thanks for the reply, but I'm confused by some of the terms you used, I've never experienced this kind of problem before and I don't know a whole lot about computer audio either... I went into my settings, changed the rates to the default which is 44100h, and it didn't fix it. I went into audacity, then preferences and changed the host to windows "direct sound" and made sure both the recording and playback were set to my soundcard ("c-media pci device") and that didn't fix the problem. I tried changing the project rate to all of the available options and that didn't fix it either..

So I'm really confused as what to do now, maybe you could go a little more in-depth cause I really don't know what else to do, thanks.

[kozikowski]

There's something wrong with the headset model number. Google sends me to the steelseries web site, but a 4H search returns "Sorry, we didn't find the page."

Got it. That headset is only available international, not to North America.

So that's a non-USB headset, right? It plugs in like this...

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/PCHeadset.jpg

Your sound card is fried. Cheap sound cards use different processes on record and playback. It's not that unusual for the pitch (or time) to be different between record and playback. It makes the overdubbing people crazy.

"How come when I play my guitar over my drum track, they don't match at the end of the song?"

Koz

[kozikowski]

The sound card information is for the chipset, not the actual card. Do you have Stereo Line-In (sometimes blue) on the card?

You can perform a test where you plug the Line-Out into the Line-In and set up for overdubbing, "Play tracks while recording new ones." I bet that doesn't work, either. The headset isn't connected at all.

Koz

[steve]

There's something wrong with the headset model number. Google sends me to the steelseries web site, but a 4H search returns "Sorry, we didn't find the page."

Their website search feature is as good as the one on this forum
http://shop.steelseries.com/index.php/a ... es-4h.html

What's happening is that the recording is actually at half the sample rate that it should be. The WAV file has a sample rate of 44100 Hz, but the actual audio data is only 22050 sample per second, so when played it is double speed.

This problem should not really happen, but frequently does on Windows 7 and Vista. The problem can usually be fixed by ensuring that the default sample rate in Audacity (Edit menu > Preferences > Devices) and the recording sample rate (Windows Control Panel > Sounds > Recording > Advanced Settings) are the same. Also ensure that they are both set to record "1 channel (mono)".

If the problem persists, it may be a fault with the sound card driver, in which case you will need to go to the website for the sound card manufacturer and see if there is an update driver for that exact sound card on Vista (32-bit).

There are also other problems with the sound card - the noise level is rather high and the "zero" level is offset below the 0.0 line (DC offset). Even if you solve the chipmunk problem, the recording sound quality will still be pretty poor (that's what you get for $10).