Making Audacity Work...

[thelevellers]

Hi, I should have asked this about this time last year (my yearly inspiration moment is slowly sliding deeper into winter ), but I have an issue with Audactiy...

I have been trying to multi track ,so I can try recording vocals separately to guitar, to improve the guitar (the vocals ain't getting better - just worse! ), but when I try it I always seem to get an echo recording of the first track on the second. Which is all well and good if you want a bit or reverb to your sound, but I want a clean vocal please!

I've got the selections right so there's no sound from the speakers, recording one track only, everything I can find, but can;t seem to get rid of the over lay. I don't know how else to do it, as I need the guitar cues to know where the hell I am in the song and keep me as in tune as I ever am...

I suppose it could be that Audacity can't do what I want, but that seems extraordinary - surely proper multi-tracking is one of the key points of a piece of recording software?! I would try using Krystal (also free!) but I have lots of issues getting that to work with my mic set up...

Phew. Any way, rant over! Thanks in advance for any help peeps!

Rohan

[Retrosaurus Rex]

OK Rohan, work the problem... I'm not an Audacity user myself, but you are correct that this seems pretty basic... first thought, it's recording one-track only, but for some reason you're getting signal from the playback of track one on the newly recorded track... the first thing I would look at would be the monitoring settings on your sound card. If it's set to "What U Hear" or something, it could very well lead to the problem you experience. Try that and report your results, Mr. Concentration Tongue...

[thepopeofpop]

It's not Audacity - it's an issue with your system/sound card settings. The playback of the first track is being recorded onto the second track. Even though you're not playing the first track through your speakers I assume you are monitoring it somehow while you are recording the second track.

One thing you could try is this:

If you're using Windows, in the options for your sound card you should be able to click on the "Volume" tab, then "Advanced" then "Properties" and then "Recording". If "Stereo Mix" is selected then whatever you play back on Audacity will get re-recorded. At least that's how it works in Windows XP. If that is the case then try deselecting "Stereo Mix"

[austinmackert]

Hm, if I remember correctly, Audacity can only record from one specific source at a time. So, theoretically, if you have it set to record from whatever line or aux-in you are using, it shouldn't pick up the sound of the other track (It's coming from a different source, technically). I've done multiple tracks in Audacity and haven't had this problem, although that's not to say you shouldn't follow any of the above advice.

I'm curious to hear the problem in-action. Are you using the guitar line as a reference while you sing, in headphones perhaps? It's possible that if you're blasting the volume in your phones too loud (depending on if they are cheap or high quality ones), the noise from that could be bleeding out, being picked up slightly by your vocal mic.

Edited October 27, 2010 by austinmackert

[Roflcopter]

Maybe also check the 'Play other tracks while recording' in Preferences?

[thelevellers]

Thanks for the help everyone

It's a bit late for me to test today now, but I will be trying again soon - just re-listened to one of the tracks on my soundclick and it was a little painful! D: don;t think there's an example of the issue there though, as it was in trying to improve that track I found the problem.

Anyway. @Roflcopter: I'm pretty sure I had it set up with play other tracks, as I assumed I needed that option for it to work. I have been wondering if hat was part of the issue. Will experiment...

@others: The tips to try the soundcard mixer settings are good! Hadn't thought of that at all...

@Austin: I am using headphones, and they are fairly cheap, but I can't hear it at all if not in my ear, I like my headphones nice and quiet usually, so I am about 90% certain it's not audio bleed from them...

I feel I should point out I'm running a super budget setup! Although I have a pretty hardcore soundcard, I don't have the mic(s) to really use it, so am running a cheap skype headset through the onboard sound :\ Quality is poor, but good enough for my current purposes.

Really wish I lived alone now, or had a sound proof room - I got the bug to play around now...

Thanks again, I'll be back with an update when I get around to trying again - hopefully tomorrow evening...

Rohan

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Thanks for the help everyone

It's a bit late for me to test today now, but I will be trying again soon - j

Too much Facebook, not enough music...

In case you missed it in the shout-box... http://www.muziekhuisdacapo.nl/producten_detail.asp?productId=1195&groepId=6&subGroepId=21

[thelevellers]

Lol, screw Facebook! More like too much TV and Colin McRae Rally...

As I just said in shoutbox, I've ordered two of those pedals to put in-line

I am just about to make some more attempts at recording, so will be updating in a little while...

[thelevellers]

OK, I just had a complete success. You guys must be good luck! I can't think of anything I did differently... Hopefully you may hear the fruits of my success in the next few days - possibly even this evening, depending on confidence and skill levels

EDIT: Here you go

Will try some more/re-do that one tomorrow or over the weekend, I think

Edited October 28, 2010 by thelevellers

[thelevellers]

Curses! New problem...

I am trying to record a new part by playing along with those already recorded, but the longer I record for the more out of sync it seems to be getting?! If it was all out by the same amount I could understand it - obviously there is a little software playback lag, but it gets worse through the song! I was definitely in time to the sounds I was hearing as I recorded it - I have tried a few times, and my sense of timing isn't out by 3-5 seconds!

Am going to try recording to metronome only, but am not hopeful, as I use the cues from where the other tracks are to place vocals and the 2nd guitar - I ain't counting beats for an entire bloody song!

*bangs head on wall* Maybe I'll give up until I'm rich and pay someone else to sort out the recording

[thelevellers]

Hmmm, I think the dummy track idea is good - a count in would definitely help! And I did 'de-noise' the two tracks I had already, so that could well be the issue... Hopefully I can make some progress soon!

Thanks, Rohan

[austinmackert]

Hm, de-noising shouldn't be causing this problem (all it does is remove certain frequencies, it doesn't shorten or lengthen the length of a specified clip).

I was thinking at first, "Maybe it's something with latency," but it's weird that it doesn't do it initially, but does it towards the end. Maybe your computer is lagging? What are your system specs, anyways (just out of curiosity)?

[thelevellers]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is a simple case of my computer being rubbish, it's 5 years or more old now...

1.8GHz AMD Athlon 64

1GB RAM

Running 32-bit XP... Not currently using my sexy soundcard (M-Audio Delta-66) as my best mic at the moment is the one on my webcam... :\

Think that's the pertinent bits. Like I say, I wouldn't be surprised if it is just my computer being rubbish, tbh... Sadly it's gonna be a year at least before I can afford an upgrade :'(

Cheers, Rohan

[Retrosaurus Rex]

It sounds like a sample-rate issue... if your DAW is recording at 44.1kHz, but your sound-card is receiving at 48kHz, for example, it can cause out of sync playback...

[Roflcopter]

That happens more often than people think. Check the settings of the (internal) soundcard, indeed.

Also, I would caution against overmuch use of Audacity denoising - it *can* work out OK, but only if you really know what you are doing - in all other cases you maim your recordings.

If you have noise issues, check the microphone etc - and using the internal soundcard could also be the culprit - even *borrowing* a half-decent microphone and use that on the M-audio could be a better idea.

But I mean, I have a cheapo Behringer C1, and they only cost 30-40 euros second-hand, and even though they are not the best available, they do the job for vox and guitar *quite* well.

[thelevellers]

Hmmm, I will investigate the sampling issue forthwith!

I realised the noise reduction tool could be troublesome, and played with it a bit, didn't just whack it on full and hope for the best! It does mangle the sound quite a lot if you're not careful...

I am awaiting the end of this month to look at finances, and then budget for Christmas and music accordingly Of course, if I'm lucky, I can blag a semi decent mic as a present ,but that's an awful long wait...

Oh, and I don;t know anyone to borrow even a rubbish mic from! lol, musicians are sadly lacking in my life in Coventry...

Cheers, Rohan

[austinmackert]

I primarily just use the noise reduction to eradicate a general humming sound that might underlay the recording. I would bet there are other uses for it, but I'm no pro at this. Best of luck with your recording setup, though! A more powerful machine will certainly help, especially if you're dealing with several tracks of large audio clips at once.

[Roflcopter]

If you want to use the noise reduction without it hurting your audio, use Amplify on the section you want to sample the noise levels, set to -3dB (yep, you can use negative numbers). I always use a passage with *only* noise, for sampling.

After that, you apply Noise reduction at it gentlest setting.

This 'softens' up the effect in such a way, that it still does a pretty decent job, but with no ill effects on your audio quality.

But really, if you want best results there, don't mess with such plugins, and get Reaper or something similar, and do the job using EQ.