Beginner sound problems

[seanjmanning]

Hi all,

I've just started using Audacity on my laptop with the standard/default sound card. The sound quality is very poor so I'm wondering if I need to purchase an external sound card?
If so, could anyone recommend one?

Thanks,
Sean.

[meaksy]

Hi,

There are a few of these queries about soundcards in the recording equipment forum

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=27

here are a couple of specific Q and A's relevant to you but there are probably more in there

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5238
http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3862

hopefully you can find something of interest there.

Good Luck

[kozikowski]

<<<The sound quality is very poor so I'm wondering if I need to purchase an external sound card?>>>

I'd be interested in finding out out what you're doing. Are you singing into the built-in microphone? You're on a PC laptop, right? Give us a push. What kind of sound work are you doing?

Koz

[seanjmanning]

>> <<<The sound quality is very poor so I'm wondering if I need to purchase an external sound card?>>>
>> I'd be interested in finding out out what you're doing. Are you singing into the built-in microphone?
>> You're on a PC laptop, right? Give us a push. What kind of sound work are you doing?
>>
>> Koz

Hi Koz,

I'm on a DELL Inspiron 6400 Laptop running Windows Vista. The soundcard is a Sigma Tel High Definition Audio CODEC and I'm using a very cheap, bottom of the range microphone. I'm singing into the mic, when I play it back there is a lot of static and the volume is very low.

Sean.