Audio Recording Issues > Advice Please

[qpoint]

Dear All,

Firstly let me apologise for the uneducated and probably misguided information below. I don’t pretend to know much on this topic but have tried to do as much research on the internet as possible, my head is about to explode so I need some assistance. I have been djing for 2 years, saves up for my collection of hardware and now can’t even record a demo CD – Pathetic!

OK, I have tried on 3 different laptops to record my drum and bass sets straight out from my xone92 mixer. I had reasonable success using my old work IBM laptop (which has since been replaced with an HP one), though the sound quality was pants in comparison to any other sets I hear online or from a friends demo CD. I was recording straight in to the microphone port on the laptop which I believe was originally designed for speech only. I have since tried using my new HP to record with NO success at all. I have tried all the different combinations of mic, line in, edited my recording devices, levels, EVERYTHING. I can get it to record through the built in speakers only, which are far too sensitive, it peeks straight away and if you move or cough the levels go right up. I then researched my built in soundcard on the internet (Soundmax HD) and have found thousands of other people through google that have the same problem. It turns out that the company are being sued by Dell, HP and Toshiba for disabling the record functionality on the cards that were released with the laptop.

I have tried using Nero, Audacity, Wavepad etc.

I then looked at purchasing an external sound card which connects via USB. I was just about to purchase a Creative Sound Blaster, then googled it to read some reviews which basically said that yes this card Is very good for sound coming out of your laptop, but makes no real difference when recording in. Is this true? If it is I am a bit reluctant to invest £60 in something that only gives me the ‘standard’ mic quality that my laptop should have had anyway. I don’t need a soundcard for sound coming out of my computer as I haven’t got in to producing or anything like that.

My thoughts are now that if you want to do something seriously, don’t use the aweful onboard sounds on a laptop, or even through an expansion slot. Use a desktop or a mac. I’ve finally lost my patience with this and I think I’m just going to build my own desktop and stick a VERY good sound card in it. Using a standard desktop one of my friends can record in what sounds like much better quality than my attempts using the IBM.

Does anyone know any other way around this? I don’t want to buy a billion GB MP3 player and record using 320KBPS, I want to record as a large WAV file.

In addition to this, if I upgrade the leads, build a decent spec desktop with a good sound card, am I totally deluded in thinking I could get anywhere close to a semi-pro sound?

Many Thanks for your patience, any advice gratefully received,

Chris

[Electriclight]

You need to completely forget about sound cards as you know them. There are now hundreds of AUDIO INTERFACES designed for recording. There are many articles abouthtis subject here. Use the Soundcard Wizard (an unfortunate title after what I just wrote) found on this site. One other factor is the hard drive speed. Most laptops have 54oo rpm harddrives which do not work very well in recording. If you have one that is 7200 you are in business.


Why Do I Need An Audio Interface Designed For Home Recording?

Home Recording Soundcard Wizard / Audio Interface Search Tool



Soundcard Troubleshooting 101

[brandondrury]

the sound quality was pants in comparison to any other sets I hear online or from a friends demo CD.

There is TON that goes into why your friends recording sounded better than yours did. That's what this entire site and my home recording book are all dedicated to. So don't make the mistake of thinking there is one single factor involved.

I was just about to purchase a Creative Sound Blaster, then googled it to read some reviews which basically said that yes this card Is very good for sound coming out of your laptop, but makes no real difference when recording in. Is this true?

I've never used it, but that's what I would expect. You need a real deal audio interface.

My thoughts are now that if you want to do something seriously, don’t use the aweful onboard sounds on a laptop, or even through an expansion slot.

I agree with the onboard part. Using a Firewire or USB 2.0 audio interface however should work fine.

[qpoint]

Dear All,

Firstly thank you very much for your comments and advice. I purchased an Edirol UA-1EX sound intrface and tried recording a one hour demo last night. As first glance, the recording sounds very good with nice clean bass etc, but the recording seems to skip and mis a beat or so, every 30-45 seconds. Is this because presumably my work laptop will have a slow hard drive inside?

If so, once again, would I just be better off buying/building a good spec Desktop and recording on to that?

Many Thanks,

Chris

[Electriclight]

It looks like you have some choices driver-wise. Make sure to use Edirol's drivers adn don't rely on Windows drivers. In software, (you didn't mention what software you are using) select the ASIO drivers. You may have to trial and error the settings.