Recording individual tracks

[1976LP]

Hi,
I have read every related post on this forum, and tried all suggestions but I am unable to record individual tracks. No matter what settings I select if I can hear the existing track(s) when I attempt to lay down a new track the tracks are combined on the newly created track. Here is what I have. I imported a .wav drum track. I want to record a guitar track and end up with the original drum track as is and my guitar track by its self on the new track. The only way I am able to hear the drum track during recording is with overdub selected. Software play through selected is a disaster! It almost causes my headphones to explode!

I have my guitar plugged into the line in. The windows settings are as follows.


Under recording....
Recording control checked
CD player checked
Line in 1 or 2 checked
Microphone checked
Stereo mix un-checked

Under playback....
Master volume checked
Wave checked
SW Synth checked
Front checked
Rear checked
Sub woofer un-checked
Center un-checked
Side un-checked
Digital out un-checked
Front green in checked
Line in 1 or 2 checked
Front pink in checked
Microphone Checked
CD player checked

I have tried all kinds of different combinations but no luck. Is there truly a way for me to listen to the existing tracks and record a new individual track? I like the features in Audacity but if I can not make this work it will be of no use to me.

Thanks

[steve]

Under recording....
Recording control checked
CD player checked
Line in 1 or 2 checked
Microphone checked
Stereo mix un-checked

Could you post a screen shot of that?
I strongly suspect that the problem is here, but I can't quite visualise exactly what you mean.

[Gale Andrews]

Set Audacity to record from line-in which you say is the input your guitar is connected to. I am not sure why you have two line ins - do you have two physical line-in ports?

If you are not already using Audacity 1.3.14 Beta, upgrade to it, then you can choose line-in (in theory) in Device Toolbar.

You are currently recording from stereo mix (for recording computer playback) which is why software playthrough creates loud echoes.

Assuming you are on Windows XP, you should have a dialogue in Windows that looks something like this, in which you can select the input you want to record from by putting a check in its box. Note only one box can be checked at a time:




In the Recording dialogue I think you are describing:



checking a box makes it appear in the controls listed in the first image. So in this dialogue you want to check "Stereo Mix". Then in the first image above, you can make sure stereo mix is unchecked and line-in checked.

See http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... ssues#xpcp for more explanation.

If your sound device drivers are working correctly, you should be able to choose line-in in Audacity's Device Toolbar or in Windows, as described above.

If Windows is the only place you can select line-in, or if multiple inputs are selectable in the first image, make sure your sound device has the latest drivers specific to your particular computer model and operating system. The drivers should be obtained from the motherboard or computer manufacturer's web site, or if not available there, from the sound device manufacturer's own web site. For help, please read http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Updat ... ce_Drivers .


Gale