I’m trying to figure out how to record from a microphone directly on to a computer and get good quality (at least not bad quality) results. I’m using a regular microphone plugged into a laptop, and recording with Sound Recorder (comes with Windows ME). However, any recording done this way has fuzziness in the background that is quite audible.
I’ve messed with the quality it records at, and even the best quality that the computer can handle still has the same static.
My question is, how do I fix this? A different microphone? A quieter environment? Even recording onto a cassette tape sounds better than what I’m getting (however, this is undesirable, as the end goal is to get the stuff burned onto a CD). Any suggestions would be welcome.
a better mic, a quieter room and a sound card with a better mic- pre amp would all help your cause. make sure you are getting a good healthy input level when you are setting up to record. Never used the windows recorder, but if it has VU meter (the little fake LEDs that jump to the sound) make sure that you are pushing it almost (but not all the way) to the top of the meter.
Make sure when you record, your record options specify "Mic IN’ only nad not “Line” or “Aux” or “CD player” or “What U Hear”. you may be recording the line noise from the othe inputs as well as the Mic In.
good luck
CJ
Some of it might be from the laptop sound card. I don’t think they put the highest quality sound cards into laptops. They want small and cheap usually.
I record my own music at home. I use a high quality sound card, a professional mic, and I use a mixing board and come in through the line inputs instead of trying to go in through the mic input. Works pretty well.
There are programs you can download that are better for recording. Some of them aren’t the easiest things to learn how to use, so if you just want something quick and easy it’s probably not worth the effort. I happen to use N-track, but that’s a rather complicated package that does multi track recording and mixing.