HELP! Nothing is being recorded!

[steve]

Yippee

[cherrystarxx]

Ahhh. I tried recording with music this time (I sing). I think I know what did the trick - I selected Stereo Mix as my recording device, and that worked out fine (Front Mic still doesn't work - it only picks up noises when I push the mic to very near my mouth and when I amplify it still has that very-far-away feel), however when I play it with the music, the whole recording bar (the bar that comes out to show that it's recording) is filled up with the blue thing and when I play it, it's actually the music that is playing (the karaoke of the song) at a much louder volume. Here's a screenie:



The track at the top is the karaoke, while the track at the bottom is the one I recorded without making any sound at all. Sorry for the trouble ><

[steve]

Aargh!!!

OK, the problem with setting it to record "Stereo Mix" is that it records everything that comes out through the speakers. That's why it is recording all tracks that are playing in addition to recording your voice. The reason that it is recording louder is because of the combination of recording level and playback level. The louder something is playing, the louder it will record if you are using "Stereo Mix".

You are obviously very close to having this working correctly. I think that you just need to switch from "Stereo Mix" to "Mic" and it should be working. You're going to have to fiddle around a bit more, but keep a note (pen and paper) of everything that you change because your current set-up is very nearly right.

[cherrystarxx]

Ehh. I got uber fed up and did a system restore to about two weeks back, changed nearly all the settings and changed them all back and yay, it's actually recording at an acceptable volume So the weird thing was after doing all that (still not working), I changed from Stereo Mix to FrontMic and wa-lah, it worked -.- Except...The echoing thing is still there.

[steve]

Remind me, is this a headset microphone?
Are you listening to the recording through loudspeakers or headphones?

[cherrystarxx]

It's a headset microphone, and I'm listening to it through the headset.

[steve]

You're using Audacity 1.3.9? (you can check this in "Help > About Audacity")

For Audacity 1.3.9 only:
Open "Edit menu > Preferences > Recording Tab" and check that "Software Playthrough" is not selected.

[cherrystarxx]

Yes, I'm using 1.3.9
Software Playthrough is not selected, though overdub is checked.

[steve]

Check that you still have "Mic" set as the recording input in your sound card control panel (sound card mixer).
If that is also set correctly, check that your sound card does not have any "effects" enabled (some sound cards have "environmental effects" which are supposed to give a richer sound when listening to music).

What sort of "echo" is it? Is it a distinct repeat half a second later, or more of a ringing sound? (use your own words to describe).

[cherrystarxx]

You know how songs have a beat? Well, the beat echoes back about one second later, very loudly. Actually the whole track does that -.- And it messes up the existing beat.