Distorted Recordings

Hi to all.I recently re-joined your excellent forum.A special thank you to steve for helping me with that.I am running Windows 10 version 20H2 and i recently downloaded Audacity 3.0.0 If you need any other information let me know.

My problem now is when i try to record from a download as opposed to using any external device the recording sounds like i am in a tunnel and the volume is totally distorted in spite of (i think) having the settings properly set. The reason i say this is that i checked previous posts and FAQ on the same subject and adjusted settings accordingly but still no luck. Can i add this all happened while using 2.4.2 and i have yet to test 3.0.0 Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated as usual.

Best of luck with all your advancements of this application.

Kindest Regards

I’m not sure what you mean by that.
Do you mean that you are trying to record audio playing in your web browser?

Hi Steve thank you for your prompt reply.
My apologies for the sentences running into each other.
Yes, exactly, it is music playing from one of the on-line music apps.I have been using Audacity for years to do this and never really had any problem like this.The main problem is adjusting the recording volume.If i try to record at “normal” level the the playback is totally distorted and reverberates.
I really hope you can make sense out of all this.

Try using the “WASAPI loopback” method described here: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_recording_computer_playback_on_windows.html

I do not know the history of your computer and how you have done recordings in the past, so if it all used to work for you, maybe these comments will not apply, but I will offer my experience anyway.

As Steve already said, selecting the correct “Recording Device” in Audacity can make a huge difference, so reading the Audacity manual and testing the options available on your specific computer is important. Sometimes changing the Audio Host can also help. Adjusting input levels for Audacity when using an internal source can be really tricky on some machines, and is often tied to the actual speaker volume settings. Sometimes you get lucky and it can be adjusted with the normal Windows Volume Mixer.

I do a fair amount of recording from streaming audio, both from a normal browser page and special apps, and each computer is very different. On most of my computes, using WASAPI and Speaker Loopback works fine. But I have one Dell desktop (new back when W10 was just coming out), where the built-in sound card just produced terrible recording results, no matter what I tried. On that computer, I put in a low-cost ASUS sound card that solved all my problems. In fact, that sound card works so well that it has become my preferred machine for streaming recordings; it has a separate “Wave” output that allows me to use exclusive mode and avoid the usual irritants from Speaker Loopback like unwanted sounds from other apps.

If your input levels are adjustable in Audacity, ALWAYS make sure that they stay way below max (maybe peaking around -10 or so), then use the Normalize Effect on the resulting file after the recording is done.

Thank you steve for the very useful link it is most helpful.I received a update recently and decided to see if it had changed anything.True enough my Stereo Mix and Microphone had both been disabled.I turned both on but got the Error 9996.Went back to settings and found Voice Recorder was also disabled.So by enabling it seems to have solved my problem.I am including a file so maybe you can verify if the settings look right.

Thanks for help offered.
Audacity Host.jpg

Hi Mauser thank you for taking the time to comment.I really appreciate you giving your time to this.I am working with Win10 on a laptop and I am using Audacity to record streaming music.I have never had any problems with Audacity even back in the 1xxxx or 2xxxx days.You may have seen in my previous post to Steve about the Win update.problem.

Thankfully all seems good now (fingers crossed).I must keep that Asus sound card you mentioned.It sounds like it’s a good unit.

I apologise for delay but I got distracted yesterday and hope you understand.

Many thanks again.

Just checking the thread again and since there are no further contributions I reckon you feel all is ok.

I want to thank steve for setting me on the right path as usual.

I would also like to thank you Mauser for your very helpful contribution i really appreciated that.

You can now close this thread with the greatest of thanks.