Audacity Forum

Hi no expert at all....

I tried recording from a new digital piano (54 keys) last night using a ProSound mike on a table nearby, but the playback was dreadful and crackling all the time. Is there a way or something in Audacity or download that can do it properly ?

Thanks
Lenovo Win 10 64 bit....

arcadian wrote:using a ProSound mike

Is that a USB mic?

Modern Windows / Mac computers tend to favour "sleep / hibernate" over proper "shut down", but a proper shut down and reboot is good to do before recording as it can free up computer resources, which is helpful for recording (especially if using a USB audio device). Try shutting down the computer completely and rebooting.

Thanks and yes it is a USB mike and did shut down and reboot but no change....

Having then tried one or two others including Ocenaudio which unfortunately not being an expert I simply couldn't follow the instructions, being most familiar with Audacity came back discovering by luck that just putting the keyboard in front of the laptop to free up some work space worked, presumably the laptop mike picking it up ?

I'm really pleased with this because I've used Audacity for ages so I've since been playing a few tunes which don't sound too bad now but still a bit muffled or similar. So could this set up be improved upon in any way....?

Thanks

The internal laptop mic is unlikely to give good recording quality.

Please post a short sample of what you get when you record with the USB mic. Let's be sure that we are trying to fix the right problem.
See here for how to post an audio sample: viewtopic.php?f=49&t=72887
In this case we need a short sample in WAV format.

Hope this is ok....

arcadian wrote:ATTACHMENTS AudacityTest.wav (1.72 MiB)

That has noise-suppression / echo-cancellation "enhancement" applied by Windows, (not by Audacity).
You need to switch off any Windows enhancements when recording music, see how to do that here ...
http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_ ... oting.html

Unfamiliar with it all but seems much the same ?

arcadian wrote:Unfamiliar with it all but seems much the same ?
ATTACHMENTS AudacityTest.wav (1.72 MiB)

That sounds the same : the computer is still applying internet-telephone-type processing to the signal from the microphone, before it gets to Audacity. It has no bass and nothing above 7500Hz , (it should go up to at least 16000Hz) ...
Your computer's SoundCard settings would be another place to look for "enhancements" which should be switched off when recording music.

Other than setting the sound back to defaults not sure what I did but does this sound a bit better....?

Windows laptops naturally assume you're a busy executive wanting to join a corporate conference call with the other members of the executive committee in Lucerne. I'm almost joking.

In order to make that process work out perfectly, it automatically applies environment suppression and noise processing to your microphone. That can work out really well for voices, but the process hates music. It turns music into tunnel sound or talking into a wine glass and in some cases deletes your music entirely.

So that's what you're up against. When you find the last Windows tool and turn it off, suddenly the music stops sounding funny. You have to be careful how you're listening, too. A good sound system or good headphones are required.

Koz