Mono Recording from Sound Card - 50% clipping

[dcromley]

Hello,
I have Audacity 1.3.13(beta) on my XP desktop.
I have the Realtek HD soundcard.

Recording from the mic is great --
..Input Device is Microsoft Sound Mapper or Logitech mic (what's the difference?)
..Levels look normal, 0 to 1.0 (100%).
Recording from the sound card --
..Input Device is Realtek HD Audio Input, Stereo Mix
..Input Channels is Mono (that is what I want).
..Audio Host is MME.
..The recording is clipped at 0.5 (50%)

Why the clipping at 50%? TIA, Dave

[kozikowski]

It's overloading because you're recording the show twice. Once direct and once again through Stereo Mix. Turn Stereo Mix off in the Windows Control Panels and only select the actual microphone.

The conditions for recording YouTube sound are very different than recording your live performance.

The Logitech is your USB sound device. The other devices are your internal sound card, needed if you didn't have a USB microphone.

Koz

[steve]

Recording from the sound card --
..Input Device is Realtek HD Audio Input, Stereo Mix
..Input Channels is Mono (that is what I want).
..Audio Host is MME.
..The recording is clipped at 0.5 (50%)

What happens if you set the Input channels to "2 (stereo)"?

[dcromley]

Thanks for the replys.

Koz: > .. and only select the actual microphone.
"Mic" recording is fine. It's the "sound card" recording that is in question.

Steve: >What happens if you set the Input channels to "2 (stereo)"?
The left (upper) channel is great -- to 100%.
The right (lower) channel is very weak, maybe 5%.
So I could (and do) split the channels and take the left channel and that's what I want.
But I guess it's curiosity that makes me ask, "Why the clipping at 50% (with Input Channels = 2)".

I don't really have a problem, do I? It's just curious. Thanks again, Dave

[steve]

So you're trying to record sounds that are playing on your computer?
What sounds specifically? Internet radio?
If you're not using the USB microphone at the present time, could you shut down your computer, remove the microphone and restart the computer, then run all of your tests again to check that the same thing is happening. (assuming that you're not using the USB microphone, leave it disconnected while we try and sort out what is going wrong).

[dcromley]

You guys are really attentive -- I hope this is useful to you.
I'm recording "Fresh Air with Terri Gross" off of NPR.org
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlaye ... =140294000
Correction: change my
"But I guess it's curiosity that makes me ask, "Why the clipping at 50% (with Input Channels = 2)" to
"But I guess it's curiosity that makes me ask, "Why the clipping at 50% (with Input Channels = 1)".

I did shut down, remove, restart, and tested again. Same results.
I've posted a screen shot of the results at
http://dbarc.net/zaudacity.jpg (should I upload to your site instead?)
The upper track is obviously with the "Input Channels" set to 1,
and the lower track with it set to 2.
I've taken care to show the "Input Device" choices.
The left channel of the stereo recording looks and sounds great. Best regards, Dave

[steve]

It looks like a driver problem to me.
That site is broadcasting in mono, so when recording as a stereo track in Audacity, you should have identical left and right channels (both like the left channel in your picture). When recording as mono you should get a single channel (the same as the left channel of the stereo track).

You could have a look to see if there are any updated drivers for your sound card, (http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Updat ... ce_Drivers ) but other than that I think you will have to use your current workaround.

[dcromley]

Steve,
"Responsive". That's a better word for you than "attentive".

I did check with realtek.com for drivers; I downloaded and installed WDM_A406.exe
It didn't seem very current, and I didn't expect much. Same results.
My current workaround (use the left stereo channel) is quite satisfactory.
Thanks so much. Regards, Dave