Recording Guitar at same time as a mp3 plays?

[ftlosm]

I am using Audacity 2.0.1 on my windows 7 64 bit computer and for guitar input I use a line 6 ux2 guitar interface, I can record the guitar fine as a track in audacity but if I play a music file and play guitar with it although I hear both thru my speakers I only get the recording of the guitar itself.

I have spent a ton of time trying different settings in the recordin decvices part of my windows settings, and restarted audacity at least 3 dozen times going thru edit/preferences but I just can't figure out how to do this, I was hoping I could have the computer merge the two into one track vs me trying to sync up two different tracks, if I play a mp3 thru windows media player and open audacity (without the guitar stuff) I still can't even get meters to record directly what is playing even and I just don' get what I am missing or doing wrong (probably very simple).

Thanks for any input or help/advice as this has been driving me nuts for the last few hrs today trying to get it all working.

I have been using search and the faq pages but everything i read and try so far hasn't worked.

My ux2 line 6 device inputs the guitar via usb and in Recording Devices (win 7) I have it set to Digital Audio Device UX2, in Playback Devices I have my Speakers set as LIne 6 UX2 (2 studio monitors that I hear all pc and guitar stuff thru), everything works, i can listen to mp3's youtube videos, movies, or my guitar thru the line6 program all fine, it's just when I have audacity open and I try to record the only input audacity sees and records is the line6 guitar track, nothing that is playing in the background (an mp3 etc).

I guess I could just load an mp3 track into audacity and record guitar track then try to sync/merge them I was just hoping there was a way to play an mp3 or video and record playing guitar at the same time, I can hear these at the same time fine if I do it but if i record in audacity it only records the guitar track part I am playing.

Bill

[kozikowski]

Audacity only does its overdubbing trick if the first -- the playback -- track is already on Audacity. It has to manage the timing and Recording Latency to get everything to come out right on the tracks. If you try to record a foreign sound file and your live performance at once, you produce a mixed sound track and kill any chances of post production, such as fixing a fluff or equalizing or noise reducing the live performance. You can't split apart a mixed music file after you make it.

I can picture playing the music bed on one computer and mix that with your live performance onto a second computer. That should work. Past that, I need to sit quietly with your description and see what happened. I know that in Overdubbing mode Audacity has to play original tracks to your headphones for timing. If another application is also struggling to do that, that's where your conflict is.

Koz

[ftlosm]

I guess I can just import say an mp3 or audio file for a song, then in audacity play that track while recording the guitar track, then I have to figure out how to sync the two up, I just figured it would be easier to hit play on a song in windows media player then hit record on audacity and record the song with me playing with it at the same time.

[Gale Andrews]

I guess I can just import say an mp3 or audio file for a song, then in audacity play that track while recording the guitar track, then I have to figure out how to sync the two up

That is the best way. See here for how to sync the tracks manually or automatically:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... .html#sync .

I just figured it would be easier to hit play on a song in windows media player then hit record on audacity and record the song with me playing with it at the same time.

But that's not the best as Koz said, because the song and your playing are mixed together and you cannot edit them separately - if you make a scraping noise in error you cannot silence it without silencing the song. If you must do it, you will have to record stereo mix (if your built-in sound device has it) and be listening to the song and your playing on that built-in device. See how to check if you have stereo mix here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tu ... ndows.html .


Gale

[ftlosm]

I think you guys are right if the dog barks or something im stuck with that IN the recording if i do them at once, I just gotta learn to sync the mp3 track up with the recorded track thanks for the link here too on that!

Bill

[Lawrie]

guess I could just load an mp3 track into audacity and record guitar track then try to sync/merge them I was just hoping there was a way to play an mp3 or video and record playing guitar at the same time, I can hear these at the same time fine if I do it but if i record in audacity it only records the guitar track part I am playing.

Hi Bill,

I'm a guitar/bass player and have been using Audacity for years to record my guitar and/or bass while playing an existing track (backing track or tune). I just import the tune (wav or mp3) into Audacity, record what I want while the tune is playing, adjust the levels after, then export the whole thing (if I so choose) back into mp3 or wav format. You can always just save the project for later use and not export at all.

I just gotta learn to sync the mp3 track up with the recorded track.

Bill

It's a good thing to learn to do, but here's what I do to avoid having to spend the time syncing:

1) Set up Audacity by doing the "latency test". It's invaluable and once done, you'll rarely have to sync your recordings up. Here's the link:

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/latency_test.html

2) When I record my backing tracks, I have a 1 bar count in on the drum track (like when playing with a live drummer) which allows me to start my recording on time. If there isn't a count in, as in a pre-recorded tune, I use the time shift tool to move the entire tune along (to the right) leaving enough space (time) to hit the record button and get ready to play (hence, start on time). I then trim the empty space at the beginning when I'm done. I find this to be easier and faster when compared to syncing.

Hope this helps