Distorted, silent sound

[aglasnov]

Can you please help me?
I have launched Audacity 1.3 beta and plugged my guitar into an amp and then connected an amp directly through "head phone output" to a microphone input in my computer. The sound in my earphones was fantastic (as on the amp itself). After that I pressed the recording button on the Audacity, recorded some 15s of guitar with that perfect sound in my earphones. When played back the recorded track it sounded catastrophic, silent, distorted. I tried to play louder, tried to set amp at louder level. Nothing! I even tried to set the sound settings in my control panel but, again, nothing! What do I do?
Thank you for your answers!

[steve]

What do you mean "it sounded catastrophic, silent, distorted"?
"Silent" and "distorted" seem contradictory.

[aglasnov]

Well, it means that I can hardly hear the sound, only peaks and those peaks that I heard were distorted..

[steve]

Is it a full size computer or a laptop?
Do you know what sort of sound card you have?
Which version of Windows are you using?

[aglasnov]

It'a a full size computer with Windows 7 installed and I don't really know which sound card is but the processor is Intel Core i5 2400..

[steve]

You should use the "Line In" socket on the computer not the "Mic In". Microphone signals are very much smaller than headphone signals so a mic input will be massively overloaded.

Ensure that the Windows "Enhancements" for the line input are disabled (see "Why do my recordings fade out or sound as if they were made in a tunnel?" http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/FAQ: ... hancements)

In Audacity, ensure that you have the "Line In" option selected as the recording device.