Audacity Still Not Picking Up Any Sounds!

[Black_Shoulder]

Hello,

sorry to be bothering all of you again, but despite many different trials, I still cannot seem to upload any recording from my MD disc in my NHF800 onto my computer using the line-in/line-out method.

In case you don't remember, this was the instructions from the administrators:

Upload method 1.1 [realtime]:

* Check if your sound card's recording mixer has a “WAVE” source listed. Please note that this is not guaranteed to be a digital source with every sound card. You can get to the recording mixer from the normal windows volume control – go to the 'options' menu, hit 'properties', then under Adjust volume for click on 'recording' and click 'OK'.

* If you have “WAVE” as a source in the recording mixer, select it and increase its volume slider to full.

* Now open your preferred sound-recording application

* Connect your HiMD recorder via USB

* Open SonicStage and go to the Transfer window

* Hit record in your recording app, then hit play in the HiMD half of SonicStage.

It should be recording [digitally] directly from the HiMD to your computer over USB.

I followed the steps, had my optic cable hooked between the Hi-MD player and the line-in place of my computer, USB cable connecting the unit with the PC, and have tested that there was sound in the headphone if I remove the optic cable and plug the headphones in its place in the remote. Despite that, when I begin playing on Sonic stage, Audacity still does not seem to be picking up any sounds what-so-ever. The line remains flat.

Please help!

[Black_Shoulder]

I posted this question a couple days ago. It seems like ppl have read it, but no one did reply for it. Is it because everything that can be done has already been done, and there's nothing more that can be suggested?

Like HeatherD from another thread, I am new to the MD world, and am feeling overwhelmed by a lot of these new terminlogy. I am trying my best to read all the stickies at the top of the forum to see if my questions have already been answered by someone, and have tried as hard as I can to follow the instructions. But it is still not working. Could this be a problem with my computer?

[dex Otaku]

Hello,

sorry to be bothering all of you again, but despite many different trials, I still cannot seem to upload any recording from my MD disc in my NHF800 onto my computer using the line-in/line-out method.

In case you don't remember, this was the instructions from the administrators:

Upload method 1.1 [realtime]:

...

I followed the steps, had my optic cable hooked between the Hi-MD player and the line-in place of my computer, USB cable connecting the unit with the PC, and have tested that there was sound in the headphone if I remove the optic cable and plug the headphones in its place in the remote. Despite that, when I begin playing on Sonic stage, Audacity still does not seem to be picking up any sounds what-so-ever. The line remains flat.

←

Well, first - the instructions aren't for the line-in/line-out method. They're for recording digitally over USB in the case that your sound card has a digital through in its mixer.

Second, there's no optical out on your portable. Hooking up an optical cable won't do anything for you in this case. You can use optical going -from- your computer -to- the line-in/opt of the HiMD, but not the other way 'round.

If you want to copy things the analogue way from your HiMD, connect a 3.5mm stereo to 3.5mm stereo cable [like earphone plugs on each end] from the headphone/line out of your HiMD to the line-in on your sound card.

Make sure that AVLS and the EQ are turned OFF on the HiMD.

Turn the volume up to about 25/30.

I have no idea what kind of sound card you have, but you must have the line-in selected as its recording source, and you should set the recording levels so they're neither off the bottom of the scale nor peaking too high. It is possible to calibrate your line-in for "line-level" from the HiMD, but that requires test files and patience.

At this point you should be able to record in Audacity.

[dex Otaku]

Incidentally, sometimes new messages get bumped off the bottom of the "View New Posts" page, which I actually use. If the board has a few really active topics, it's easy for something that hasn't been replied to recently to fall off the bottom.

[Black_Shoulder]

Make sure that AVLS and the EQ are turned OFF on the HiMD.

Turn the volume up to about 25/30.

At this point you should be able to record in Audacity.

←

Thanks very much for the reply (I didn't know that the post has been moved to here; I was wondering why it was gone from the hi-md forum).

I can't find the EQ setting on my MZ-NHF800. Can you tell me what that is? (as you can see, I am completely incompetent with this machine and all its related terms)

Thank you very much!

[dex Otaku]

To make sure EQ is off: [on the NH700, the NHF800 is probably the same]

* press and hold the 'menu' key until the menu shows in the unit's display

* scroll down to 'SOUND' and press play/enter

* make sure that 'NORMAL' is flashing in the display

* press enter again

To make sure AVLS is OFF, you have to first put the unit in ADVANCED menu mode. To do this, enter the menu, scroll down to 'OPTION' at the bottom, press enter, go to 'MENU MODE', press enter, then make sure 'ADVANCED' is flashing, and hit enter again

Once you've done this re-enter the menu again, go to 'OPTIONS' and 'AVLS' should be there. Scroll to it, press enter, then make sure it is OFF.

Please note that this information can be easily found in your manual.

Thanks very much for the reply (I didn't know that the post has been moved to here; I was wondering why it was gone from the hi-md forum).

It was moved because you're asking for technical support. Support questions generally go in the support forum.

[Black_Shoulder]

Thank you very much for the info. I'll try this at home tonight and hopefully, I can finally get my computer to record some sounds for me.

[Black_Shoulder]

Dex,

Thank you very much for the assistance you have given. I couldn't get my PC to record properly, so I ended up trying to record the sound from my brother's laptop, and strangely, it worked! So I went back to my PC, and instead of plugging the cable to the line-in port, I plugged that into the mic-in port, and it recorded a sound! FINALLY!!!!

Now, if you would pardon me in asking another question once again - is there a way that I can make the wav file a little bit smaller? Does this have to do with the quality of the recording process? I'm asking this because, even for the few sound bite tests that I am making with Audacity, the .wav files resulted are 2000kb for a 10 second clip. Is that normal? Or is the file too big?

Thanks again.

[dex Otaku]

The mic input on almost all sound cards is monaural. This means you won't be getting a stereo signal wehn you record through it.

Mic inputs also have a higher-gain preamp than line inputs, which has higher potential of overloading an distortion if you plug a line-level signal into it.

If your mic input works, that's probably because it's selected as the active recording source in the windows mixer. Switching to the line in will probably fix your problem, lessen the chances of distorted recordings, and give you stereo.

To switch to the line input:

* Open the windows volume control [double click on the little speaker in your system tray (by the clock) if it's there]

* Go to the 'Options' menu and click 'Properties'

* Make sure the 'Mixer Device' at the top is the sound card you want to record from [if you have more than one sound card, they will all show up in this lis]

* Click on 'Recording' under 'Adjust volume for'

* Click OK

You will be back at the volume control. This particular view of it is useful because it lets you do two things: switch between recording sources, and set the recording levels for those sources.

Under each source there will either be 'Select' or 'Mute'. In the case of it being 'Select', make sure only the line-in is checked.

In the case that it reads 'Mute', mute all inputs except the line-in.

You should now be able to record from the line input. You can use the slider on its strip in the recording volume control to set the levels to ensure that you get distortion-free recordings.

Please note that for $11.95USD you can purchase Total Recorder, which will let you record digitally in real time while playing the HiMD over USB. [This is what method 1.2 in those instructions was about]. This is the method I use to back up recordings.

Making WAV files a bit smaller:

CD-quality audio takes up roughly 10MB per minute of recording. Higher bit depths [24 rather than 16] and sampling rates [96 vs. 44.1kHz] will increase the amount of space needed for a given time to be recorded.

If you're not going to be getting into any fancy editing, make sure that the recording settings in Audacity are set for 16-bit, 44.1kHz.

As for decreasing the amount of space it takes, there are a variety of ways to do this, but none of them work in real time [i.e. while making the original recording] without being lossy [i.e. recording directly to mp3].

For backup and storage of WAV files you can use lossless formats like FLAC and Monkey's Audio. I prefer FLAC, but Monkey's has a great user-friendly frontend for managing their files that most people would find much easier to use.

Lossless formats usually compress audio at around 2:1, meaning it takes half the space to store the same thing. They do, however, require that your player software, editor, or hardware support their format in order to play them natively. In the case of software, this is not such a big issue, as players like Winamp and Foobar2000 have plugins for most of the available formats.

iTunes and SonicStage will not, as their development systems are closed. [Note that iTunes does have the option of using Apple's own lossless format - which of course can't be played by anything else - but then, if you use iTunes as your primary player, that's fine.]

Those of us who use lossless compression are accustomed to the fact that if we wish to edit the audio at a later time, we simply have to decompress it back to PCM WAV before doing so.

I recommend something like the following:

* record your audio to your computer in CD-quality format [uncompressed PCM, 16 bit, 44.1kHz]

* edit as needed

* write your audio CDs using your finished product

* compress the finished product with something lossless like Monkey's Audio [APE format]

* back up those APE files to CD-R or DVD-R [the same way you would back up any data]

The last part is of crucial importance. CD Audio is NOT a precise system, and was never made to be precise, really. There is no way to actually ensure that what you're getting off the disc is exactly what you put there in the first place, if you have to go back and rip it later to make more copies.

Data CDs, on the other hand, generally have more robust error-correction, and are laid out so that any one file can be read from the disc with absolute bit precision. Backing up to your audio to a Data CD [or DVD] means that when you take those files off later to make more copies, you are getting from the disc exactly what you put there.

This may seem like a lot of work, and may seem totally daunting, but really - it's not much different from anything else. When you're gardening, there are certain procedures to follow, an order to doing things that makes the most sense and ensures that what you plant actually grows.

At any rate,

Cheers.