It doesn't record - need help

[davep5]

Hi Steve,

I’ll just say this about my lead, it hasn’t arrived yet. I probably won’t see it for a few days yet, but that’s OK.

I decided to post to let you know of some progress I made with Audacity that I’m very pleased about. It concerns one of my recordings which I have on cassette tape, as I mentioned previously, which I wanted to transfer to CD. Well, I hooked up my tape deck and was able to record it onto Audacity with no problems. The levels were perfect and it had a nice looking wave. I then exported it onto my desktop as a .wav file and was even able to play it on my windows media player, which was good news for me because that means I should be able to burn it onto a CD if I want to, which was the whole point of my downloading Audacity in the first place. I was using the older version before which quit on me and now I feel I can pick up where I left off and continue to transfer and save my recordings.

After I recorded, I made a word document to keep track of the settings I used, i.e. input volume, in case if I want to re-record or edit the existing file, whereas I can keep track of my progress, and then saved both the .wav file and word doc in a folder on my desktop. I then closed out the program without doing anything else, as I considered this just to be an experiment with which I had success.

Afterward, I found a section in the manual in the tutorials section about editing an existing file, and I tried a little experiment where I opened Audacity again, and dragged my audio file icon into the open Audacity window, choosing the “Make a copy of the file before editing (safer)” option, and was able to play the file using Audacity again, I closed the file again at this point because like I said, I was just experimenting.

I could probably save it onto a CD as is and be happy with it, but I might like to edit it because when I originally recorded it, I used one microphone to record acoustic guitar and vocals together, and I noticed that the guitar slightly overpowers the vocals, not by much, but enough whereas I might like to overdub another vocal to give it more depth.

Overall, though, I was happy with the results and feel like I am making some progress. Thanks for the advice in your last post, I’m not really sure if I could be of any help to anyone at this point, but I would like to contribute and give back a little as I learn more.

Bye for now,
Dave

[davep5]

I want to apologize again as these posts are meant for everyone, I’ll be careful about that.

Dave

[steve]

Congratulations Dave, sounds like good progress

A good tip: When you're recording (for real), as soon as you have recorded a track, Export it as a WAV file. The WAV file will be a near-perfect copy of the recording. This will be an invaluable back-up in case anything really bad happens. If you are recording multiple tracks in the same Project, you can Export the individual track by having just that one track selected, then use "File menu > Export Selection".

[davep5]

So you’re saying keep each track as a separate WAV file, like the one I already saved, and the added vocal I want to record, and keep them as backups for a multiple track project, whereas I can combine them if I like, yet still retain the individual tracks to work with, if anything goes wrong, or if I want to make changes to my project, and that I would use “File Menu > Export Selection” to do move individual tracks.

Dave

[davep5]

That’s good to know, although I’ve always been pretty much a live, as is player and never really used overdubs to change or enhance my recordings except for using loops which I like to use as backing tracks to play over. With Audacity though I’m thinking that this might be something I’d like to explore.

Dave

[davep5]

Hi,

I’m just posting to let you know I got the lead for my piano and did some test recording. Everything was fine as far as adjusting the levels and keeping the wave within the box which I think I’m supposed to do, and I want to thank everyone again for all the help and support they gave me in setting up and learning the basics of Audacity. One concern I had while listening to playback though was that I noticed a considerable amount of hiss on the final recording. I did two tests. One with the input level at 0.5 where there it was very noticeable, and another at 0.1 where it was lowered a bit but still there. I was wondering if there is any way to record without the hiss, or to eliminate it, or is it my equipment? (I’m using a 10’ lead but they also have 3’) I’d like for it to sound a little cleaner. Can you tell me if there is anything written about this or can anyone guide me on the subject?

Thanks again
Dave

[steve]

Everything was fine as far as adjusting the levels and keeping the wave within the box which I think I’m supposed to do

Yes, absolutely. If the waveform touches the top or bottom of the track it will produce distortion which is very important to avoid because it's virtually impossible to fix effectively. Generally it's better to record a bit too quiet than too loud. If the blue waveform has peaks up to about half the track height, then that's a good and safe recording level.

I noticed a considerable amount of hiss on the final recording.

First off, hiss is a lot more noticeable when you listen to a recording on headphones than when you listen live through speakers, so that may be one contributing factor.

Minimising hiss is mostly about getting the signal level optimised throughout the "signal chain" (from "sound source" through to being written to disk).
This has become a very long forum thread, so perhaps you can just remind me. Is this correct:

• You're recording from the AUX left and right from your keyboard into the Line In (NOT Mic input) of your sound card?
• You'll need to remind me about the settings in the "Windows Mixer" (if you've worked out how to take a screenshot, then screenshots of the recording and playback settings will be useful).
• You'll need to remind me about the settings in the Audacity "Device Toolbar".

[davep5]

Thanks Steve,

I rerecorded to make sure the highest peaks of the blue waveform were about half the track length.

I am recording from AUX left and right from my keyboard into the line in (not Mic Input) of my sound card.

My sound card is “Realtek HD Audio”

The mixer device for “Line in/Mic in” or “Recording” has five settings. They are:

1. Recording Control
2. CD Player
3. Line 1 or 2
4. Microphone
5. Stereo Mix

I am using only Recording Control and Line 1 or 2 to record.

The Recording Control volume slider also controls the Audacity input volume slider which I had set to 0.5 for this recording.

The volume and balance sliders for Line 1 or 2 seem to be frozen and I cannot move them. If I check all five settings they too are also frozen, all except for Recording Control. The mute boxes are not frozen.

The Mixer device for “Realtek HD Audio rear output” or “Playback” has 14 settings. They are:

1. Master Volume
2. Wave
3. SW Synth
4. Front
5. Rear
6. Subwoofer
7. Center
8. Side
9. DigitalOut
10. Front Green In
11. Line 1 or 2
12. Front Pink In
13. Microphone
14. CD Player

I noticed that only three affect playback. They are Master Volume, Wave, and Front, and it is Wave that controls the output volume slider on Audacity, which I have set to 0.5.

All the rest I can have turned down or unchecked with no effect on playback it seems, except for microphone, which when turned up seems to make the hiss slightly louder.

Also, the DigitalOut volume slider is frozen as are the mute boxes on Front, Rear, Subwoofer, Center and Side.

The balance sliders on Subwoofer and Center, and DigitalOut are also frozen.

I noticed too that I can have Advanced Controls for Front Green In, Front Pink In, and Microphone if I choose to.

I apologize that I haven’t worked out screenshots yet, and I’m sorry if I give too much info. Also I realize this forum thread is becoming rather long which is something I didn’t intend and feel awful about. I was hoping to let it end a few posts ago. One good thing though, I found out that someone I know on this end who is somewhat knowledgeable about things is also using Audacity and maybe I can get some help there if I need it and not have to post anymore. You and all the Forum staff and members have been such a tremendous help to me already for which I’m grateful. I’m sure as I’m able to read more and play around with it, it will all fall into place and that I just need to give it some time.

Thanks again
Dave

[steve]

Don't worry about the topic being long - the record on the forum currently stands at 18 pages
(though if you have any new questions start a new topic )

What are your settings in the Device Toolbar in Audacity? (it'll look similar, but slightly different from this because this picture is from Windows 7)
You may need to drag the right hand edge of the toolbar to be able to see all of the text.

[davep5]

Thanks again Steve,

I feel better knowing my topic isn’t breaking any records.

I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to start a new topic, maybe I will if I need to in the future, though I don’t mind continuing this one for now.

My settings look very similar to the picture you show

Input
Audio Host Output Device Input Device Channels
NME Realtek HD Audio Rear output Line in/Mic in: Line 1 or 2 2 (Stereo) Input Channels