How to record my voice?

[Jack Fu]

I want to record some books and magazine stories for a blind friend. I want
to record to my computer and then copy the .wav file to a CD. I tried
recording on my computer using Sound Recorder (Accessories => Entertainment
=> Sound recorder). I adjusted all the volume slide bars to max (Accessories
=> Entertainment => Volume control) before I recorded. My voice was
recorded, but at such a low volume that the recording is useless. (I have to
turn the volume to max at playback and even then I can hardly hear it.)



What am I doing wrong? I tried two microphones (the one that came with the
computer, and one I bought from RadioShack). Both produce the same
unsatisfactory results (extremely low volume).



My computer is a Fry's 7550 running Medium Center Edition (a variant of XP
Pro) with a Pentium 4 chip. The manufacturer's spec sheet says it has a
NVIDIA GEFORCE 5200 128 MB video card though I have not opened the case to
confirm this. I used an app that analyzes what components you have (Belarc
Advisor) and it show that I have the following:



Bluetooth Audio

C-Media AC97 Audio Device

Hauppauge WinTV 88x Audio

Hauppauge WinTV 88x Crossbar

Hauppauge WinTV 88x MPEG Encoder

Hauppauge WinTV 88x Tuner

Hauppauge WinTV 88x Video (MPEG+Front)

Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device



I would greatly appreciate any instruction or advise on how I can record my
voice. Thanks in advance! (My blind friend thanks you too!)



(If I have put this in the wrong news group, please steer me to the right
news group. I have put this also in the microsoft.public,
windows.mediacenter group.)

 

[Nick Burns]

Do you have the mic recorder slider up..? (not the mic playback slider).
Some sound cards will have a option someware to boost the mic input gain.

 

[Jack Fu]

My Voume Contro window has these sliders: Volume Control, Wave, SW Synth,
Microphone, CD Player, and Line In. All the sliders are up. (And all of the
Mute buttons are unchecked.)

Jack

 

[Gelan]

I want to record some books and magazine stories for a blind friend. I want
to record to my computer and then copy the .wav file to a CD. I tried
recording on my computer using Sound Recorder (Accessories => Entertainment
=> Sound recorder). I adjusted all the volume slide bars to max (Accessories
=> Entertainment => Volume control) before I recorded. My voice was
recorded, but at such a low volume that the recording is useless. (I have to
turn the volume to max at playback and even then I can hardly hear it.)

In Win XP
GO TO START > CONTROL PANEL > SOUNDS SPEECH AND AUDIO DEVICES >
SOUNDS AND AUDIO DEVICES > AUDIO TAB > SOUND RECORDING > VOLUME > and
adjust your Microphone Setting.

Click the Volune tab in ( START > CONTROL PANEL > SOUNDS SPEECH AND
AUDIO DEVICES > SOUNDS AND AUDIO DEVICES > ) and click advanced to see
if everything else has already been set up.

Best wishes.

 

[Jack Fu]

I did all these things. All the volume sliders are up. Still does not work.
(Record sound almost inaudible.)
:-(
Jack

 

[Nick Burns]

Hi Jack, are you saying both mic sliders are up and the mic recorder slider
is up and is selected at the bottom of the slider.
Their are 2 sliders, one for output and one for input, the mic input has to
be also checked. The box with the record slider says "Recording Control", at
the top left of the box.

 

[Hamilton]

On the FM7550, please do the following:

1) Plug in the microphone into the pink mic in port located on the
right side of the PC.
2) Double click the (yellow and blue) Xear3D icon in the system tray
in the lower right hand corner of the desktop.
3) Under the Microphone tab, make sure that the Front-Panel Microphone
option is selected and the Microphone Boost 20 dB is selected as well.
Click OK.
4) Open Sound Recorder and go to Edit-->Audio Properties
5) Under Sound Recording, click the "Volume..." button.
6) Select the Microphone "select" checkbox and adjust the volume
slider up. Close the window then Click OK.

Try recording. I hope this helps.
-Hamilton

 

[Jack Fu]

Hamilton,

Many thanks for this very useful message! I really appreciate it.

I do have some more questions however. But first, let me point out some
differences in the user interface, in case you help others with the Fry
FM7550. On my machine, I double click the Xear 3D icon and what comes up
does not have a microphone tab. It does have a "Mixer" tab. I click that tab
and a window with and Vol Rec panes come up. On The Rec pane, I slide up the
Microphone slider if it is not already up. Also I click on what looks like a
hammer icon at the bottom of the Microphone slider and I get a window with
"Microphone Selection" and "Microphone Boost". I select Front-Panel
Microphone. Under Boost there is a Boost check box. It does not indicates
how many dBs.

In Sound Recorder >> Edit >> Audio properties >> Sound recording, I get four
drop-down choices: C Media wave device, Modem #2 line record, Modem #3 line
record, and Bluetooth audio. I choose C Media wave device. In that same pane
I click Volume and I get a "Recording Control" box with sections for
Microphone, CD Player, Line In, and Wave. Volume sliders for all four
sections are up, and balance for all four sections is in the middle. I check
the Select check box under Microphone and click the Advanced button. In
"Advanced Control for Microphone" I leave both the "Microphone Boost" check
box and the "Alternate Microphone" check box checked.

Now I use Sound Recorder to record my voice, but here is my big problem: it
allows only 60 seconds of recording! How do I make a longer recording? Some
of the recordings I want to make are over one hours long!

Also, can you RECOMMEND A BETTER MICROPHONE (AND MAYBE BETTER RECORDING
SOFTWARE) than what came with the computer? The quality of the recorded
sound is okay but could be a lot better.

Many thanks again, Hamilton!!!

Jack Fu

 

[Jack Fu]

It turns out that Frys Computer has its own user interface windows for these
adjustments. Plus, the mic input is on the side of the computer. (Thanks to
poster Hamilton, I've finally got the mic working.)

Another poster suggested downloading shareware GoldWave. It has solved my
problems.

Jack