Strange hiss

[ProfCarlos]

I am trying to record a CD from some tapes of my radio show. I had already recorded some tapes in my old Pentium 166 to make RA files, and it worked just fine.

Now, although the monitor audio was just fine, the WAV file had this incredibly loud high-pitched hiss, sometimes louder than my own voice (it's a talk-show).

I used the paragraphic EQ Sound Forge 4.0 function to cut out most of the hiss, but it made me loose sound quality. What I really can't get is why the hiss is in the WAV file and doesn't show in the monitor.

I am using now a K6-2 400 with a lousy motherboard with a built-in soundboard, 64 Mb RAM... Would it be the built-in soundboard?!

Thanks in advance,

Carlos

[Track Rat]

That would be my guess. How were you monitoring? Thru the computer or from your source?

[ProfCarlos]

I'm monitoring through the computer speakers, not from the source. There is the white noise we can expect in a cassette tape, but not the loud hiss.

I tried to record from a microphone and got the same problem (using the MIC input instead of the LINE IN, where I first had this trouble while recording the tapes). I didn't try to record from another source through the LINE IN. I tried to install the old Aztech 16 soundcard I used in my old computer, but the server is constantly busy, and I couldn't download the drivers yet. :_(

[Track Rat]

Just a shot in the dark but check your recording properties if you haven't already and make sure you're recording at 16 bits, 44.1 kHz.

[ProfCarlos]

Yes, I am. I have also tried to record at other sample rates, to no avail. The noise is there, too.

[Track Rat]

Oh boy. There's a lot of folks here who are very computer literate than I am and I'm running out of ideas. How about un-installing and re-installing either the card or sound forge.

[mrclay]

>Would it be the built-in soundboard?!
Try to find out: Start your recording, then stop the tape, then turn off your tape deck/stereo, then unplug the input cord on your soundcard. Find where the hiss stops.. If it doesn't, it's the crappy card.