high pitched background noise

[Trebor]

I do have skype installed on my computer, with video/voice calling. If that is the problem, how do I turn it off?

If Skype isn't running then I can't see how it could be the cause of the problem.

I did spend a lot of time browsing in microphone settings.

The only other thing I can suggest is lowering the "levels" on "microphone properties", if Window7 is like Vista it will be a couple of on-screen sliders ...

Microphone properties-Levels-Vista.png (35.88 KiB) Viewed 1979 times

Also if you have another microphone you should try that just to see if the problem is microphone specific.

BTW just found this in an Amazon review ...

When Windows XP built-in USB sound card driver is installed, AGC checkbox is avaialble in advanced mic property dialog box.
When C-Media USB driver is installed, AGC is gone and Microphone boost (+20db) option shows up.

So apparently the AGC tickbox, if it exists, is in the "Advanced" microphone properties, not "Microphone Enhancements" as I stated earlier.

[steve]

Skype can cause recording problems, but not this sort of problem. I also very much doubt that it is caused by AGC or any other setting. The signal that is being recorded strongly suggests faulty hardware. If you're using a USB microphone, try it on a different computer and if you get the same problem, send it back to where you got it from or throw it away. If you're using a conventional microphone (with a little round jack plug), try a different microphone.

[Diablofire]

This worked for me and might work for you. [Explanation for Windows XP - working on an old PC right now.]

1.) Open your volume control in the taskbar [Bottom right-hand side.)
2.) Click options -> properties
3.) Under "Adjust volume for" set the button from playback to recording, and click OK.
4.) Click advanced
5.) Under "Other Controls" disable the AGC.

AGC caused a massive volume burst and thus amplified the noise.
See the attached image if you feel my steps are bad .

Good luck!

[steve]

Thanks for your comments Diablofire, but this topic is well over three years old so I doubt that the original poster will still be around.