Goal: record tracks playing in Spotify, directly from computer, to edit in Audacity to create short clips
Setup: Macbook Pro (OS X 10.7), Audacity 2.0.2, Spotify Premium (yes, the paid version), Logitech G330 Headset (http://cdn3.techworld.com/cmsdata/reviews/3248191/Logitech_G330_input.jpg), Sennheiser HD555 headphones, male-to-male AUX cable of unknown brand
Currently, an aux cable is plugged into both the headphone and microphone jacks, and all sound input and output is mapped to go through those jacks (in both Audacity and System Preferences). I hit Record in Audacity, play the song in Spotify, and everything is successfully recorded.
However, playing the recording back in Audacity yields an obnoxious bass distortion. It tends to pulse every other (which, while somewhat cool, is ruining the recording). I’ve messed with the Equalization tool, but I can’t seem to remove just the pulse/thumps…unless I mute EVERY bass frequency, the pulse remains. (And if I do mute everything, then I only have the high ends to work with, which also sounds terrible.) It may be worth mentioning that the Sennheisers are plugged into the Logitech adaptor’s headphone jack whenever playback is initiated (in unrelated circumstances, the Macbook’s headphone jack was ruined).
Playing back in Audacity WITHOUT headphones in, however, sounds normal. Exporting the file to a WAV does not eliminate the pulses/thumping. The pulses are too long for the repair tool to take care of…I believe.
Any ideas? Or better “record directly from computer” software recommendations? I love that Audacity’s free, but if it’s not gonna get the job done, I’ll do what needs to be done.