12
13
Windows:
1. By the system clock, right-click over the
Speaker icon
select
Sounds
then
the
Recording
tab, and then click on the
USB device
in the list and click
Properties
. Click the
Advanced
tab set your required bit rate and sample rate
from the
Default Format
dropdown (normally "
2 channel 16-bit 44100 Hz
").
2. On the Advanced tab, in the "Default Format" section, make sure the
dropdown menu is set to "
2 channel 16-bit 44100 Hz
".
For a more detailed walk-through of the above steps for Windows (
or if that does
not work for your version of Windows), see
Windows: accessing the Windows
Sound controls
.
Mac:
1. From
Apple Menu > System Preferences
select "Sound" and click on the
Input
tab
2. Select "USB Audio CODEC" or similar as the input device and verify the
Recording Meter
shows input.
3. If the recording meter in the Sound preferences panel does not show input:
1. From the Finder, select
Go > Utilities
and open
Audio MIDI Setup
.
2. If the
Audio Devices window is not visible, select
Window > Show Audio
Devices
.
3. Select your USB input device in the list in the left pane of the Audio Devices
window.
4. Set the Format to "
44100.0 Hz
" and "
2ch-16bit
".
For a more detailed walk-through of the above steps for Mac
,
see
Mac and USB
input devices
on the Audacity Wiki.
2.3 Launch Audacity.
If Audacity is already running when you connected the cable, choose
Transport
>Rescan Audio Devices
or restart Audacity.
2.4 Project Rate
Set the Audacity Project Rate in
Selection Toolbar
at the bottom left of the
Audacity screen to 44100
Hz
:
2.5 Devices
Use
Device Toolbar
to set the recording and playback devices and to set the
recording channels to "2 (Stereo) Recording Channels", as in the below example on
Windows 10
:
• The Recording Device is set to the USB device (in this case the device name, but
often called or including the phrase "USB Audio CODEC").
• Recording Channels is set to stereo.
• The Playback Device is set to the named speakers of the built-in computer sound
device.
• These settings can also be changed in
Devices Preferences
.
Windows calls most USB external devices "microphones". Some higher-end USB
recording interfaces may appear as their explicit manufacturer's name.
3. Software Playthrough
Use
Transport > Transport Options > Software Playthrough (on/off)
and click
"
Software Playthrough
" to turn it "on" (the checkmark is shown when it is "on").
This setting can also be enabled or disabled in
Recording Preferences
. Software
Playthrough lets you hear the turntable through the computer speakers when
recording. It also lets you hear the turntable
without recording if you turn on
monitoring (see the next section below).
4. Monitoring
Enable monitoring to set the recording level
• Turn monitoring on by clicking once on the microphone icon in the
Recording
Meter
.
• In
Mixer Toolbar
, turn up the left-hand playback volume slider (by the speaker icon).
• The right-hand recording volume slider (by the microphone icon) can often be used
to vary the loudness of the recording, but it may not function with all turntables.
If it does not, try adjusting the output level on the turntable (often, there is a gain
control under the chassis).
Alternatively, you may be able to adjust the input level on Windows and Linux only,
usually by looking for the speaker icon by the system clock. On
Windows,
right-
click over the speaker icon > "Recording Devices
". Then right-click over USB
Audio Codec, choose "Properties" and click the
Levels tab.
• Try to aim for a maximum peak of around –6 dB, which corresponds to
around 0.5 on the
waveform
. You can always boost the level later with
Effect
> Amplify...
or
Effect > Normalize
... after you have completed editing.