Hiss on all recordings

[mrj209]

Im using my laptop with Audacity to do some home recording. But i think something is wrong with my sound card or something because everytime i record something it has an equally loud hiss that goes along with it. I know its not my mic's or cables i tried 5 differen't combinations. Im doing a direct line in with a mic and a 1/4in to 1/8in adapter directly into the mic spot on my computer. its primative yes, but i've had success in the past with this method on my old computer, it was a dell. this is a toshiba, and i get a lot of hiss on audacity and sound recorder. I tried my mic on a buddy's toshiba and didn't get 1/10 the hiss/white noise i get on my tracks on this comp. ive tried everything to reduce noise around me when i record, so its something with the way it records, the computer is just getting some wierd white noise where it should hear all music. Please help, i cant buy a new computer. i dont know what to do

 

[witzendoz]

If you are using the line in, have you set the input (software mixer) to mic? Or is there a mic input to plug into (not line). A mic plugged into line will cause the signal to level miss match and you will get noise.

The inbuilt sound card is probably not good enough for serious recording but should be better than what you are getting.

Cheers

Alan.

 

[Washburn100]

Unfortunately, the built in soundcard is poor for playback, and terrible for input (mic or line).

You should not use the mic input period. The soundcard will have some sort of primitave preamp that is meant for using the microphone jack for MSN, Skype etc. At minimum, you should get a microphone preamp and use this into your line in. I picked up an MP Studio single channel preamp for $25 at American Music. Check e-bay for a cheap preamp.

The best bet would be an audio interface (USB or firewire if you have that on your laptop). Again check e-bay and you can find an interface for less than $100. This will solve your problem

Hope this helps and good luck

 

[mrj209]

why didn't i have the same problem on my buddy's computer

i plugged my mic into my friend's toshiba and it sounded great, just like it did on my old computer. and im going into the mic imput just with an adapter not the line in. i want to try and solve this without buying anything else.

 

[Armistice]

Have you checked what Alan said above? Sound advice, so to speak.

You could also check for snakes...

Sorry, I got nuffin'

 

[Muyukiguki]

i plugged my mic into my friend's toshiba and it sounded great, just like it did on my old computer. and im going into the mic imput just with an adapter not the line in. i want to try and solve this without buying anything else.

Your buddys computer may possibly have a different sound card than yours, or even different settings. If what you are getting out of the other computer was working to your liking, go to the control panel (assuming you're running windows) and check out the sound hardware and settings that he is using.

 

[sparqee]

Gain staging

If the input on your soundcard it turned all the way up try turning it down, recording and then raising the volume (perhaps normalizing) in Audacity. Computer soundcards have notoriously noisy preamps. I know you don't want to spend more money but if there's no solution to the problem (i.e. your soundcard is just a noisy piece of crap) then you might Consider a USB mic or something like the this http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Icicle/