Sound Forge not recording

Dick-Wilson wrote on 2/13/2024, 4:48 PM

I just installed Sound Forge 16.1.2 (Build 57) on a new HP laptop running Windows 11. However, now only my voice is getting recorded using an external microphone. Any other sounds, such as what's coming through my speaker or a musical instrument played right next to the microphone either doesn't get recorded at all or gets recorded as low level static. Updates are current, and all selections in sound preferences seem to be in order. Any ideas?

Comments

rraud wrote on 2/13/2024, 5:25 PM

If you wish to record multiple sources, you need a mixer prior to your existing sound card, or a sound interface with multiple channel . If you have a microphone you need an interface with at least one mic preamp channel.
If you wish to record multiple sources, a multi-track DAW application is best suited, Sound Forge is an editing app and not designed to record and mix multiple tracks.

btw, welcome to the Magix Sound Forge users community @Dick-Wilson.

Dick-Wilson wrote on 2/14/2024, 8:42 AM

Thanks, but I'm not recording multiple tracks. I'm recording one track, with everything feeding into a single microphone. But only my voice is getting recorded. Everything else the microphone seems to ignore regardless of its proximity to the microphone, clapping hands directly in front of the mic for instance.

emmrecs wrote on 2/14/2024, 9:29 AM

@Dick-Wilson

I'm recording one track, with everything feeding into a single microphone. But only my voice is getting recorded. Everything else the microphone seems to ignore regardless of its proximity to the microphone, clapping hands directly in front of the mic for instance.

As a simple matter of physics, with all due respect to you (!), what you are suggesting is impossible, sorry.

Your mic does not and cannot discriminate between sources of sound; it must record any and every sound that is generated in its vicinity.

So, I think we need rather more detail about exactly how you have your mic set up in relation to the various audio sources. If the mic has a hypercardioid pickup pattern it is possible that any sound source which is not directly in line with the mic's "live" side may not be properly picking up that sound.

Which mic do you have, make and model name or number, please? With that information we may have rather more clues to why you are experiencing this problem.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

Dick-Wilson wrote on 2/14/2024, 9:48 AM

Thanks for your response. Actually, as it turns out, it IS possible, but I thought the same Jeff-- the microphone is there and live, sound is going through it, how can it not record? And it's been a good mic, Audio-Technica AT2020. I found the answer on both the Microsoft and Audacity forums. The culprit is the "audio enhancements" setting in Windows. Both posts directed me to System/Sound/Settings/Microphone/Audio Enhancements. "Audio Enhancements" was enabled, perhaps by default (I have a new computer.) Turning "Audio Enhancements" off has fixed this issue.

emmrecs wrote on 2/14/2024, 9:55 AM

@Dick-Wilson

Ah, those "pesky" Audio Enhancements, of course! Perhaps they should be renamed "Audio Distortions".

Thanks for the update and I'm glad you were able to resolve this one! As you say, the AT2020 is a pretty good mic!

Jeff

rraud wrote on 2/15/2024, 10:53 AM

My Dell laptop came with a Waves consumer audio 'enhancement' utility, which was just the oppositeand made even semi-accurate mixes impossible.