Adding L and R channels together ???

[waxcylinder]

Most USB sound cards will record only the left channel if you select "1 channel (mono)" in Audacity, but I think that some internal sound cards will mix left and right input channels when "mono" is selected.

Ah that's interesting - as you know I run a USB soundcard and it does just that - hence the oversight.

WC

[fastenough]

Just selecting mono input in Audacity will not sum your L&R channels together.

I don't think that is always true.
Most USB sound cards will record only the left channel if you select "1 channel (mono)" in Audacity, but I think that some internal sound cards will mix left and right input channels when "mono" is selected.

In the case of recording a mono record with a stereo cartridge, the left and right channels should be pretty similar, but it would be expected that there will be some difference due to the turntable set-up, wear on the record and so on. If you record as stereo, then there are two ways that you can convert the track to mono using Audacity 1.3.13. I would advise using whichever method sounds best.

Method 1:
Click on the track name and from the drop down menu select "Split to Mono". If one track sounds noticeably better quality than the other, delete the bad track. If they both sound pretty much the same then method 2 will probably be better.

Method 2:
(If you've started with method 1, use "Edit menu > Undo" to undo the splitting of the track).
Select the track, then from the main menu bar, "Tracks" menu > Stereo to Mono. This will mix the left and right channel to produce a mono track that is an average of left and right channels.

Thank you Steve. I have now installed 1.3.13 and used your method 2 above. this produces exactly the same waveform as when I re-recorded using the mono option as I mentioned in my second reply to WC. (I am using an internal "Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit" sound card (and Windows XP on a DELL dimension 9100 PC)

A big thank you to all of you who have replied; I really appreciate it.

I am about to start on some 78 rpm transfers. I have a 1946 EMG electric gramophone (real valves!) which has variable speed and uses thorn needles. An electronic wizard friend has extracted the output from the preamp stage (and isolated it safely!)and so I can feed a properly equalised signal of the right strength into the PC sound card. It works great.

[waxcylinder]

I am about to start on some 78 rpm transfers. I have a 1946 EMG electric gramophone (real valves!) which has variable speed and uses thorn needles. An electronic wizard friend has extracted the output from the preamp stage (and isolated it safely!)and so I can feed a properly equalised signal of the right strength into the PC sound card. It works great.

In which case have a read of this tutorial from the manual, you may find it useful: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/Reco ... pm_records

WC