Audacity Forum

I'm trying to use my new Samson Q1U microphone in Audacity. I'm kind of a newb, so it's possible I missed a setting somewhere.

The problem: I can record using this microphone, but the stereo option doesn't actually give me two equal tracks. The right channel is normal, the left channel is VERY low. It basically doesn't SOUND like stereo at all. I can see little low-level lines on the recording, but that's not going to work with what I do.

I'm running Windows XP. I've tried raising the volume levels, and I do have the Q1U selected as the microphone device. It does this on more than one USB port. The balance control is set in the middle.

The frustrating thing is that I have been able to make this work once or twice in the past, but I can't figure out what's different now.

Any help/input would be appreciated.

How are you getting a stereo signal out of a single mic?

You should set Audacity's channel setting (Edit -> Preferences -> Audio I/O) to 1 channel (mono). You didn't mention if you are using Samson's SoftPre software to run the mic, or if you were using standard Microsoft Drivers. Where exactly are you getting a stereo option? You can't get a stereo signal from a single microphone (unless you've got a stereo reverb or chorus effect from somewhere).

I'm using standard Windows drivers.

Re stereo signal from one mic: I don't know how it works, but it does. I get stereo out of my single mic analog (i.e., non-usb) headset too.

What I'm trying to do is record spoken audio. I want audio coming out of both earphones. Maybe it's not stereo, but it's audio on both channels.

OK, that's not stereo. That's mono. If you record with your mic set to Mono and leave the track that you get out of it panned to the center, the audio will come out of both speakers at an equal level.

Does the signal from the mic come out of both speakers when you're not recording (i.e. when you're monitoring)? It's possible that you're setup to monitor* through one speaker only (which is the way The Beatles did it, btw). But once you record that one mono track and leave it panned to center (the default) it will come out of both speakers during playback.

Monitor: Listen to the input while it's happening. Either while recording, or while not recording.

alatham wrote:OK, that's not stereo. That's mono. If you record with your mic set to Mono and leave the track that you get out of it panned to the center, the audio will come out of both speakers at an equal level.

Hmm, I'll have to try that. It's not what I'm doing now.

Does the signal from the mic come out of both speakers when you're not recording (i.e. when you're monitoring)? It's possible that you're setup to monitor* through one speaker only (which is the way The Beatles did it, btw). But once you record that one mono track and leave it panned to center (the default) it will come out of both speakers during playback.

Well, I'm listening through my headphones, and when I play back my audio it comes out of one channel loudly, and the other channel very softly.

Sorry about my noob ignorance. I'm just feelin' my way through here. I'll try that mono/centered thing and see if it works. It's just annoying that things work one way with one setup, and a different way with a different setup.

Kitsune5219 wrote:It's just annoying that things work one way with one setup, and a different way with a different setup.

Nobody said recording audio was going to be easy. There's a reason recording engineers make $100+ / hour.

Your equipment can't read your mind. It's up to you to have it set up right. We'll help out as best we can, but be aware that things can get frustrating from time to time.

I've been thinking about this, and maybe I've sussed it out a little.

My headset mic has a mini plug that looks just like the stereo headphone plug. So maybe for it there are two elements for "stereo" recording? Or maybe they run the same signal back twice or something?

Whereas the Samson with the USB interface is Not Like That. That's probably why it works differently. Duh.

Your headset mic is probably a computer-style mic. It requires 3 conductors to carry power and signal together. It should only be plugged into a Mic In, you won't get any results using another port. You will also only ever get mono out of it.

I'm sure the USB mic is also a mono signal.

It's up to your drivers to assign names and settings to each input and output source that you can access in Audacity. I'd say they're the most likely culprit.

I have a similar problem. It should be mono but it is somehow stereo. Maybe something's wrong with drivers? Strange things happen when i mess with panning slider in windows settings. When it's in the middle i get weak signal form right channel, and normal singal in left channel. When I slide 100% right I get only the weak right signal. So far it's as expected. Bet When I slide left from the center, both channels go quieter and there's NO signal at 100% left. WTF?

CaveSoundMeister wrote:I have a similar problem. It should be mono but it is somehow stereo. Maybe something's wrong with drivers? Strange things happen when i mess with panning slider in windows settings. When it's in the middle i get weak signal form right channel, and normal singal in left channel. When I slide 100% right I get only the weak right signal. So far it's as expected. Bet When I slide left from the center, both channels go quieter and there's NO signal at 100% left. WTF?

You're posting in a very old thread (almost 4 years old) you would probably get more visibility if you started a new thread...

You didn't say much about your setup (mic used, how you connect it to the computer, audacity version, operating system, etc...). Without that piece of info it's harder to give any advice.

Assuming you're using a single usb mic like the original poster of this thread, then you should select "mono (1 channel)" and not "stereo (2 channels)" in Preferences -> Devices -> Recording. Otherwise you'll probably only get sound on one channel of the stereo track (in your case, apparently on the right channel).