Audio Help Pleeeeeeeeease

chrissys_audio_settings

Or alternatively click here: please to see all the settings used when trying to record both sides of the telephony call in skype.

System is Windows XP, Audacity is 1.3.3(beta), VAC (full version).  Experiencing difficulty recording incoming audio - my voice can be recorded but the other voice is there but ever so faintly - hardly distinguishable.  Please look at my settings and see if you can see something I'm not.  Most noticeable is no stereo mix or what u hear option in the dropdown menu in Audacity or in the volume control.  I'm working on a toshiba satellite laptop A100.  Have google searched for latest sound device drivers - and downloaded latest driver.

While we're at it - any hints on getting the jing image to show instead of that nasty red cross would be appreciated to.  I've been working on this now since 5pm and it's now 1.27am.  I gracefully need to walk for away for a bit.

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Susan Ettenheim - Fri, 2007-08-10 13:48

Hi everyone- We definitely need some more eyes on this problem so using yugma, I tried to make a video of Chrissy's problem. Please take a look and help us get her up and running. I know we are soooo close!

http://www.screencast.com/t/ZUHuM3Y_P4 

humm I can watch the video but for some reason the link is not working so I tried share again and here is my second attemp to publish the url:

http://www.screencast.com/t/ZUHuM3Y_P4 

nzchrissy - Fri, 2007-08-10 20:47
Just watched the jing video - that was clever!  Thank you for working with me yesterday (today) It was really appreciated!
NZ Chrissy

Susan Ettenheim - Fri, 2007-08-10 22:16

Thanks Jose for thinking about the big picture. While I live for screencasts, I'm also starting to see that as we get bigger and more advanced, we need to add info in our Book of Webcasting about the concepts of what we are doing so we can really be able to think it through. 

As of now, we have identified 4 places to check
1. Volume control icon on desktop toolbar
2. Volume controls in Sound in Control Panel
3. Volume controls in Audacity>Preferences
4. Volume controls in Skype>Audio and Sounds

For the me, the question is which of these settings will cause the others to reset. What is the "family tree" for using these settings. How do they relate to each other and then of course, as Jose was starting to discuss, how does VAC fit into it all?

Also I'd like to understand more about the differences between how sound works on the Apple vs the Win OS. For instance, why can you record in Audacity on Win and not on Apple? Does hijacking in Effects in Nicecast do the same thing as VAC accomplish? 

 


coordinator2 - Fri, 2007-08-10 15:33

I can feel your frustration!  It's all in the sequence. Look at the screencasts. The key is to understand how audio repeater works.  It bridges audio from your mic to your soundcard.  It makes the all audio input and ouput come from the soundcard.  You get both in one place.  I played around in Audacity and this is what worked for me.  Go to Edit and select preferences. I made sure Input and Output were set to sound card.  When I got back to main window, I didn't get strereo mix as an option but it did record; check it out here.  

 

Jose Rodriguez, 3rd Grade and Adult ESL Teacher; It's Elementary Webcast

nzchrissy - Fri, 2007-08-10 20:43

Thanks Jose!
Susan and I went through the screencasts very carefully and I think I am beginning to understand how the VAC works and we did try the Input and Output to set to sound card but then no audio would record - not even my microphone.  The only time audacity recorded me was when we used the settings in the Jing capture.  Arghhhhhh!
NZ Chrissy

coordinator2 - Fri, 2007-08-10 23:11

Here we go.  I created screencast earlier today.  AudacitySetup.swf

Jose Rodriguez, 3rd Grade and Adult ESL Teacher; It's Elementary Webcast

jeff - Fri, 2007-08-10 14:45

Hello Chrissy,

Hope you didn't have nightmares of virtual audio cables and volume settings. I have a realtek soundcard on my new desktop and it is a significantly different setup than what is shown in the screencast. Here is a screenshot of my setup: http://www.webcastacademy.net/files/JeffL-HPPavilionDesktop-Setup.jpg

There is no place to select 'stereo mix' or 'what u hear', but setting 'line in' as my sound recording device seemed to do the trick. Do you have that option?

I believe Erika is dealing with similar issues - perhaps we can meet for a monitor head banging session sometime.

Sweet Dreams,
JL

nzchrissy - Fri, 2007-08-10 20:39

Hi Jeff

I did look very closely at your screencast - because I saw you had realtek soundcard but alas - no line in option - I thought the closest thing to that option was my USB mic but nope ........
Susan and I tried all the settings by going through the screencasts bit by bit - nothing worked.  Most of the time no audio was recorded in audacity on either side until we tried the settings you see in our jing screencapture.

Poor Erika - I know exactly how she is feeling!  We should definitely meet!

NZ Chrissy

osnacantab - Sat, 2007-08-11 07:59

Chrissy,

 

I'm an Audacity sufferer myself, though I have managed to do a both-ends telephone recording - but I'm Pc. (Sorry about that). 

 One thing: I note that you went for the buggy (word used by Audacity) beta version. I'm working with the 1. whatever stable version. Is it worth giving that a try?   Dennis


 

Dennis Newson Osnabrueck GERMANY

nzchrissy - Sat, 2007-08-11 09:00

Thanks Dennis - I did wonder about doing that - I think we've pretty much narrowed the problem down to the soundcard in the Toshiba Satellite Laptop.  It seems that Toshiba (very big brotherish of them) have decided to disable the ability of its driver to stereo mix  due to worries about copyright etc.  Now if only I could figure out how to get around this issue ..........

I'm on a PC too - but I'm waiting on the arrival of my new iMac, and I can't wait! 

NZ Chrissy

Anonymous (not verified) - Tue, 2009-11-24 14:53

I posted my introduction but I noticed that the flash player did not show up on my post. I can click on the file and download it but not play it online. Could anyone advise me on what I may have done wrong.