Audacity is recording things IT shouldnt hear

[Gale Andrews]

Audacity is not a Skype recorder and does not claim to be. You can't record stereo mix with a USB headset because it acts as a self-contained playback and recording device that only offers mic recording. You'd need to use a hardwired headset and plug into the pink (mic) and green (audio out) connectors of the computer sound device. A possible exception if you are on Windows Vista or 7 is that you could go to the "Recording" tab of "Sound" in the Windows Control Panel. right-click over the USB headset > Properties, click the "Listen" tab then set the playback to the built-in sound device. Then record from the built-in sound device's "stereo mix" feature. It will have delay as it's software playthrough. It may still send your friend's voice to stereo mix or it may just send the mic input.

Please state whether you are on Vista, 7 , XP or which version of Windows. It's better to use Audacity 1.3.13 on Vista and 7.

You may want to look in the settings of MP3 Skype recorder or buy a professional Skype recorder. I'm pretty sure there is no inherent limitation when recording Skype that the two channels can never be recorded simultaneously. And pro recorders will record WAV so it's lossless. Then only one party has to bother with the recording.

Load random youtube video/mp3

Youtube videos rarely have mp3 audio. Do you mean you are playing a you tube video and an MP3 at the same time? On what sound device? What input are you recording from in Audacity?

Mute mic, check that audacity has the headset as the input in devices

Mute what mic - the USB headset? Where exactly are you "muting" it?

Hit record in audacity

When doing this, it faintly records the youtube/mp3 track, just like the issue with skype. It seems that audacity is recording the pc audio but only faintly in the background.

Hard to give a sensible answer without answers to the above questions.


Gale

[Blighty]

Thanks for getting back to me. I think we are crossing our wires a bit. I am not trying to record skype, the alternatives suggested are designed purely for that. My intent is to just record my voice input to the pc, without any of the pc noises being recorded. My skype problem applies to ANYTHING that produces sounds. Which is why I tested recording my voice and playing an mp3.

I am on windows 7 using audacity version 1.3.13 and a turtle beach px21 USB headset.

The YouTube/mp3 test, I played both, not at the same time. These were played out the USB headset as the default device with all other devices disabled.

I have tried both muting the headset by the switch on the device, and in my sound settings.

Audacity input device is shown as my turtle beach headset, output is the same.

Thanks

[Gale Andrews]

I am not trying to record skype, the alternatives suggested are designed purely for that. My intent is to just record my voice input to the pc, without any of the pc noises being recorded. My skype problem applies to ANYTHING that produces sounds. Which is why I tested recording my voice and playing an mp3.

Your first post said though:

My friend and I are trying to record a podcast where I record JUST my voice and he records JUST his. We are using skype to chat and both using audacity to record

I still believe using a paid for Skype recorder is the answer in the circumstance that you want to record a Skype conversation, until you rule out Skype as the cause of playback leakage by uninstalling it. It's not enough to just exit Skype to prove that.

I am on windows 7 using audacity version 1.3.13 and a turtle beach px21 USB headset.

The YouTube/mp3 test, I played both, not at the same time. These were played out the USB headset as the default device with all other devices disabled.

I have tried both muting the headset by the switch on the device, and in my sound settings.

Audacity input device is shown as my turtle beach headset, output is the same.

Thanks for the clarification.

Are you confident the USB headset device has no internal leakage into the mic channel (can you borrow a proper wired headset from someone to test)?

Did you try sending the mic playthrough through "Listen" to Realtek and recording Realtek stereo mix?

If you had a wired headset then (probably) you could record both sides into Audacity in PCM without the need for the "separate recording by each" workaround. I think that workaround is misguided. How do you know your machines record at the same speed? The likelihood is they don't, so the two recordings will always drift apart when you mix them.



Gale

[Blighty]

Thanks for your continued support on this Gale.

Having removed skype and performing the test again, I can confirm it is not skype causing the issue. While not technically very reliable, I performed the test with my old windows 98 PC (same headset and audacity being the only identical pieces of hardware/software) and the issue persists.

I cannot guarantee the headset is not the cause of the problem, but my co-host uses a proper wired headset and he gets the exact same issue - perhaps unlikely two different machines with different hardware have the same fault?

I cannot do the Realtek suggestion as my audio platform is VIA HD Audio Deck but regardless, I do not want to record the full conversation on my end. If it came to it, I would use one of the Skype recorders for that but the intent is to increase the audio quality by having it recorded locally.

Thanks

[steve]

I am on windows 7 using audacity version 1.3.13 and a turtle beach px21 USB headset.

Topic moved to the Audacity 1.3.x section of the forum.

[steve]

What settings do you have in "Edit menu > Preferences > Devices"
What other options are available?

[Blighty]

What settings do you have in "Edit menu > Preferences > Devices"
What other options are available?

I use MME, and turtle beach headset for both playback and recording. Channel is set to stereo.

Further options are:

Interface -
MME
Windows Direct Sound

Playback -
Microsoft Sound mapper - output
Speakers (Turtle Beach USB Headset)
SPDIF Interface (TX1 VIA High...cuts off there)

Recording -
Microsoft Sound mapper - input
Speakers (Turtle Beach USB Headset)
with channels mono and stereo

Thanks for taking the time to help out

[steve]

As far as the Audacity settings are concerned there is no leakage path with those settings.
For a conventional (non-USB) headset it would not surprise me at all if there was a bit of leakage between the headphones and the microphone (particularly with an inexpensive headset) as the headphone signal is running up the same multi-core as the microphone wires. I find it more surprising (though I guess not impossible) that there would be such poor channel separation with your USB headphones.

This is the test that I performed:

Load random youtube video/mp3
Mute mic, check that audacity has the headset as the input in devices
Hit record in audacity
When doing this, it faintly records the youtube/mp3 track,

This is very curious. You no doubt realise that there is no way that should be able to happen.

I think you mentioned previously that you have an internal sound card but have it all disabled? If so, then here's a little test that may help to clarify what is going on.
Enable the headphone playback on your computer sound card and plug-in some conventional headphones (any old headphones will do).
Restart Audacity and in "Edit > Preferences > Devices" you should be able to set the conventional headphones as the playback device.
Leave the USB headphones as the recording device.
Check that you can both record and play back.
Ensure that there is no sound spilling over from the headphones to the microphone and see if the problem still exists.