recording but with lots of background sound

[fionajmiller]

I use Audacity 2.0.6 and Windows 8 and a creative head and microphone.
I am usig it to record an audio blog which I have doen for some tme with no problem.
I the last week I have experienced problems.
My voice is recorded but there is a lot fo hissing and there doens't seem to be very much wave form. I am not aware that I have made any changes to settings.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling but it makes no difference.
I am including a screen print of a recording.
Thanks for your help

[steve]

At the moment you have the "Microsoft Sound Mapper" set as the input and output device in the device toolbar. The Sound Mapper is configured in the Windows Sound Control Panel to select the default inputs and outputs. That means that you will be recording from whatever is the default input in the Sound Mapper.

Generally it is better to select the exact input that you want to use in the device toolbar.

If you are working on a laptop, my guess is that you are recording from the laptop built-in mic and not your Creative mic. If that is the case, you either need to change the default recording device in the Windows Sound Control Panel (and leave the device toolbar settings as they are), or, select the Creative mic as the recording input in the device toolbar.

Unfortunately recording devices often report themselves with strange names, so the Creative mic will probably not be called "Creative Mic" (that would be too easy ), so you may need a bit of guesswork and deduction to work out which input name is the Creative mic.

[fionajmiller]

thanks you it is so much better