Recording an interview

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I’m nd assistant at Universidad Técnica Federico Sant María,Chile, and I’ve ben uing audacity for years, as part of an english exam, which consists of an “interview”.

Using a headset with integrated microphone, a pps file with the recorded questions and blank spaces runs as the student answers, while audacity is supposed to record both tracks, creating the interview. Unfortunately, for almost a year, audacity has failed to do this, and the questions have been barely recorded only because the headset’s microphone picks up the questions coming from the headphone.

Unfortunately, marking the box to “listen this device” in the microphone are not acceptable option; the questions o the interview can get a little technical, and the PCs are not to of the shelf exactly, so there is a slight lag between what goes into the microphone and what comes out of the headphone, so listening to oneself can get very confusing. Also, the stereo mix only allows me to switch from on sourceto the other; I an either record the sound from the microphone, or from the PC, not both.

Also, because it is a pps file, and often there are lags between one slide and another, merging the tracks after the test is not aceptal either.

in other words, what can I do to SIMULTANEOUSLY record the questions coming from the PC and the answers from the headset (with integrated microphone) without "listening to the microphone.

The attached files sgow that after 2,5 seconds, nothing gets recorded.

best regards,
Javiersansano.

Is Skype an option? Skype has introduced a way to record both sides of an interview on the Skype servers. That can solve many of the delay and voice steering problems that a home user would have—and that you’re having.

the PCs are not to of the shelf exactly

That may be the worst problem. If we can’t think of a simple way to do this, that may be the end of the world. Audacity is programmed to work on all three “common” computer types. We can’t do custom versions.

There is a program called Voicemeeter. It is supposed to create custom sound pathways on a Windows machine.

I record with two computers and a sound mixer. You probably don’t want to do that.

Koz

Schools have the additional problem that the school may not allow you to install custom software.

There is no common setting or adjustment that allows you to record both sides. It’s been a very painful problem for several years.

Koz

I appreciate your sugggestions, and apologize for my ortography.

Unfortunately, my supervisor is very unwilling to change softwares. Which is why I need to find the solution with audacity.

I need audacity to record both what goes into the microphone, and what comes out of the headphones.

Any ideas?

Thanks beforehand.

There is no “direct” way to do that because Audacity can only record from one “device” at a time. However, assuming that you are on Windows:

IMPORTANT: Ensure that you are using headphones and not loudspeakers - if you use loudspeakers with this method, there will be howling feedback when the volume is turned up.

In the Windows Sound Control Panel, find the microphone in the “Recording” tab, and enable the option to “listen to this device”. This will cause the microphone signal to be routed through to the output. You can then record the output, and the microphone will also be recorded (though there will be a little delay for the signal to get from the mic to the output, so it may sound like an echo).