When recording multiple tracks, Audacity re-records all!

[rhythmandblues87]

Hi everyone! Finally got my home studio up and running, and I can't wait to use this wonderful program. I just have one problem to lick, and I was wondering if any of you could help!

When I record multiple tracks on Audacity, each "new" track I record copies the audio from every other track playing! For example: if I record drums on Track 1, bass on Track 2...and then proceed to lay down guitar on Track 3...I can hear Tracks 1 and 2 in the background of Track 3. They begin to distort and become troublesome after only two or three tracks. Is there a setting I should alter? Perhaps something in my home studio setup? I am using a Behringer XENYX1222FX mixer, going into my PC with the UCA200 USB to RCA sound card.

[kozikowski]

You can send the total output of the computer out to be recorded instead of just the new pieces. This is fairly easy to get by mistake because it's the same settings you use for recording Internet Radio Shows.

Windows Control Panel
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... trol_Panel

Koz

[rhythmandblues87]

I have Windows XP, but I'm afraid all of my settings in the Control Panel are correct according to that article. It's just that each time I record a new track, it re-records all the other tracks with it as well. Could this be a problem that's being caused by the mixer's settings, and not Audacity?

[kozikowski]

You are almost certainly recording "Mix-Out" or "What U Hear." That's a Windows setting.

You should only be recording Line-In or Mic-In depending on what you want to do.

<<<PC with the UCA200 USB to RCA sound card.>>>

Oop. Stand corrected. You're coming in USB. Does the USB device show up as a recordable device in the sound panels? A lot of these problems are put down to bad or old drivers or software. Do you have the latest downloaded drivers for the UCA200.

Do you have the computer show playing on the Behringer mixer? Could you be sending the wrong thing to be recorded?

Koz

[rhythmandblues87]

The UCA200 does show up in both the Windows Control Panel and Audacity. And I downloaded and installed the latest drivers for it three days ago.

I can hear playback from Audacity through the UCA200. That's how it works - that way I can use the mixer's headphone jack to monitor the recording going on in Audacity, and also use it to hear what I record over the previous tracks. But I can't figure out how to get rid of these "ghosts" of previous tracks that keep appearing on each new, subsequent track. I think you've got the right idea - somehow, the mixer is probably re-routing the old tracks back into Audacity and they are being recorded with each new one. I wonder how that could be avoided...while still being able to hear all previous tracks so I can have them to play to as I overdub myself.

[kozikowski]

Without looking up and analyzing the mixer, does it have Mix-Minus, Preview, Pre Fade Listen, or Solo busses? If the headphones are stuck to the mixer output, then your only option is to listen to the computer headphone outputs and just use the mixer for the live performance.

That can give you different problems, like sync issues.

Koz

[rhythmandblues87]

I need the mixer to record with - I often record several "sources" at once (say, a drum set that needs to be mic'd with four mics), and the mixer is the only way to take those sources and convert them into something Audacity can record. And I used to use the headphone jack on the PC tower, but I had severe latency issues with it when I tried to overdub. Plus, I don't think the PC would allow me to hear anything through the PC headphone jack when the UCA200 USB is plugged in.

[rhythmandblues87]

Here is the mixer I am using, just to give you an idea of all of the functions available to me:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun06/i ... 22fx_l.jpg

[rhythmandblues87]

Ok - I found the source of the problem.

When I turn down the CD/TAPE volume on my mixer, Audacity no longer records the "ghost" track of the previous tracks that I am listening to. This has been the problem all along - being able to listen to the previously recorded tracks while recording the new one.

However, this does not solve the problem. Muting the CD/TAPE fader keeps Audacity from re-recording the previous tracks with the new one...but it also prevents me from hearing them as well. And I need to be able to hear them to record an overdub, obviously.

Any ideas?

[peanutroad]

Pardon me if this sounds too obvious, but could you simply be picking up the bleed from your headphones and re-recording it through the microphone? I've certainly had that problem with phones that didn't isolate enough.