Audacity Forum

Hey All,

Just started using Audacity for home recording purposes and I have a question about multi-tracking. When I lay an initial guitar track down everything is fine and it's tracked normally. When I go to add a vocal track over this guitar track (a second track), the guitar track I previously recorded automatically plays in the second box where the vocal should be tracked, along with whatever I end up recording, which is nothing because I always have to trash the second track due to the noise it creates. How do I fix this? Thanks!

Clark

How are you recording? Which equipment are you using (mics, preamp, soundcard, computer, etc..) and how do you have it connected?

If you want to listen to the previously recorded track while recording the new one (overdub) you should use headphones to listen to it, if you listen through the speakers that will be captured by the mic too.

Do you use Audacity to record "what's playing in the computer" (such as sound from youtube videos, etc)? Those settings won't work with overdub, you have to change it... If you have stereo mix as the recording device you need to change it to the device you're recording from (mic, line-in, etc).

bgravato

Upon reading your reply is became excruciatingly obvious why my problem was occurring. I was using the mic from the computer and NOT using headphones to record the extra tracks!!!! duh, so upon playback of the 1st track, while trying to record the second track of course the mic from the computer is going to pick up the first track and muddle the recording of the extra ones. Thanks man!!

You can also get that if you like recording YouTube video sound. There is a Windows setting called Stereo-Mix, What-U-Hear, or Mix-Out. If you record from any of those, Audacity will get the combined sound of the whole computer. All of it.

Set in Windows Control Panels.

Change to recording from one single device or service.

Koz