I'm stupid, please help =]

[alkalinetrio]

Hi there.

Basically..

I want to record a sound from a program to audacity. I need to use the recording setting thnig line-in I think (which is what the computor is playing, reocrds what comes out of the speakers).

Then I want to record my guitar and vocas on top, plugging my guitar into computor, and using a mic for vocals.

Im using Windows vista which means I cant record what the computor is playing.

Can someone tell me, in the smplest way possible (seriously, im clueless to anything mildly complex, tell me so a 5 year old can understand) how to make it so I can record what the computor is playing which copyingthe backing and guitar at the same time when I record playing two tracks at once.

Bear in mind my computor has pretty good sound card (I think) and I have no access to taking the computor apart or anything. I wish to spend no money and prefeably not download anything although i think that may be inevitble.

Remeber, im stupid, k?

Thanks!!!!!!!!

If it's any help, i'm using the lastest version of audacity, 1.34 beta or something.

[alatham]

First off:

I need to use the recording setting thnig line-in I think (which is what the computor is playing, reocrds what comes out of the speakers).

This isn't true. Line In is one of the few well defined inputs in the Audio world. It will record whatever you have plugged into the Line In port on your soundcard, nothing more. So it won't record whatever your speakers are playing.

To record your speaker output you can run a cable from the Line Out to the Line In on your sound card, and set Audacity to record from the Line In input in the Edit -> Preferences -> Audio I/O menu.

Note that your speakers won't be plugged in, so you won't be able to hear anything unless you buy a y-adapter to plug both in at once.

Once that's done, you can record your guitar and vocals by using the Line In or Mic In inputs (this depends on your equipment). Make sure you unplug the cabel from the Line Out to the Line In or you'll get the two signals mixed together. Also make sure "play other tracks..." is turned ON in the Edit -> Preferences -> Audio I/O menu.

I don't know how much more simple I can state it. Personally I don't think a 5 year old would have a chance using Audacity, so I hope you're a bit more intelligent than that.

[alkalinetrio]

That's definately helped. I'm definately more intelligent than a five year old and when I had windows 98 I had no problems at all doing what I wanted here, but Vista came along and made things complicated for a person like me, who only uses a computer for Msn and Xbox live.

Thank you very much =]

[alatham]

I know, I was just playing along with your self-deprecation.

I agree with your assessment of Vista, the way it handles Audio stuff is terrible. From what I can tell, the companies who are writing the drivers for Sound Cards in Vista have some unspoken agreement to remove the Stereo Mix function from their drivers. I hate conspiracy theories, but this one makes me wonder.

[alkalinetrio]

One more question (sorry!), what kind of cable am I looking for? Is a guitar jack-lead with adapters on the end to make the end bits small ok?

[alatham]

Is a guitar jack-lead with adapters on the end to make the end bits small ok?

I'm not sure what this means, but I don't think it's going to work since guitar cables are generally mono.

You need this:
http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-3-5mm-Spli ... nstruments
and this:
http://www.passmark.com/products/audio_loopback.htm

For some reason I cannot find a 3.5MM single stereo female to dual stereo male cable anywhere. But put those two cables above together to make the same thing.

[alkalinetrio]

Just posting to give you my deepest thanks. Your advice has worked perfectly and I am truely greatful!!!

Thanks again, you are an amazing person!!

[alkalinetrio]

Well I have tried the set-up properly now and im actually a bit confused.. one way I do it my mic seems to be picking up sound too but when I remove mic it stops working..

And another with mic the recording is mono and no sound from speakers during recording or before recording..

Help..?

Thanks

[alatham]

I can't figure out what you're asking.

When you want to record the speaker output, set Audacity to record from the Line In input. Your mic shouldn't be involved at all.

Also, most mics are mono, you'll never get a stereo signal out of them.

If you want to hear the mic during recording (is this what you're asking?) you need to turn it on in your OS's sound card driver software. I can't tell you exactly how to do that since it varies from computer to computer, but generally all you have to do is double click the speaker icon in Window's taskbar and turn up the volume on the Mic input.

[alkalinetrio]

Ouch from re-reading my post I see how very vague I was!

What im after is to record a guitar which is plugged in the computer. I'd prefer If I was able to do this without recording anything else at the same time eg the mic sounds, or other tracks. however, at the moment alll I can manage (with different variations of cable positions in the sound card) is to either record the guitar out of the speakers which doesnt allow me to record new tracks without recording the other tracks (I cant mute the other tracks for timing). This way also seems to pick up sounds from my Mic aswell. whenI removed the mic, the computer no longer picked up the guitar. hmm.

A different variation without the mic ment i could record in mono tracks without recording other tracks, but I couldnt hear what I was playing until I pressed play, not while I was recording.

Ideally, Id like to hear what I was recording, and able to record ore than one track without recording the previous tracks

Hope you can help