Digital sounds and squelches

[kuddlohm]

I have Win7 and am using Acer 5742G with no line input. I am pretty certain that I installed Audacity from the .exe file but I cannot be sure. I am recording from tape cassette to computer via microphone input. When recording there is a noticeable digitalisation of certain sounds at certain times. This is not too bad when recording cassette versions of gigs and music however when recording low-sounding ambient sounds that have been taped from the street (street sounds in Morocco and India) there is far too much of this digital sound and squelches that transforms the listening experience (it's weird and therefore interesting but is nowhere near the same as the original). How do I solve this issue? Will increasing the sample rate help?

[kozikowski]

The machine thinks your show is "background noise" and is trying to suppress it. It's part of Windows conferencing, although they don't call it that.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/man ... hancements

The Mic-In of your laptop is not only very sensitive and prone to damage and distortion, it's also almost certainly mono. So you're not transferring the right side of your stereo shows. We've been recommending the UCA-202 if you need good quality stereo connections to your computer.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/ ... Lenovo.jpg

Koz

[kuddlohm]

Thanks Koz,

That was very helpful. Have made the adjustment in the microphone properties window. Will see if it works. If not, I guess I have to shell out a bit of money in order to convert my cassettes into a digital format!