I’ve plugged my Guitar/Mic/Minidisk player etc in to my computer and the sounds coming from the speakers but my music/audio software isn’t recording anything.

In order to get the best results from you music software you need to understand how Windows handles sound.

This tutorial will teach you how to configure your computer (not your music/audio software) to obtain the best quality recording and playback in most common situation.

As most soundcards work though the Windows mixer, we’ll be using it for the purpose of this tutorial.

How to use this tutorial: This tutorial requires you set-up and start using the Windows mixer.

To avoid things getting too confusing, we’ve made special Action: bullet points for you to follow. If during the tutorial you are required to do anything there will be an italic bold Action: followed by the instructions in BOLD. Any other bold writing is for clarification and reference purposes only.

Q: is a commonly asked question on this subject.

Also watch out for the handy Note: and Tip: sections!

Tip: If you’ve had your computer for more than 6 months, it’s worth checking if you have the latest soundcard drivers. This will make sure you soundcard is in tip top working condition for this tutorial.

Note: If you are unsure how to do this, contact the manufacturer of you soundcard/computer for more details.

Right, here we go!

The Windows mixer is the panel that controls all the sound that comes in and out of your computers sound card.

If its set-up incorrectly you will get poor quality recording and playback.

In some extreme cases you can even get no sound at all! This is why it’s important to understand how it works so you can get the best sound possible from your computer.

The panel is made up of two mixers controls that have two different functions.

The first mixer deals with all the sound coming out of your computer.

This is called ‘Volume Control’ and is always displayed by default when you open Windows Mixer.

The second mixer deals with all the sound coming in to your computer.

This is called ‘Recording Control’ and is only available by going to your Volume controls ‘Options’ menu.

There are two ways of opening the Windows mixer.

Choose one of the following:

Action:

1) Click on Start>Program>Accessories>Entertainment>Volume Control.

2) Double click on the speaker icon next to the clock in the bottom right hand corner of you screen.

Ok, we’ve now got the Volume control open, but some of the sliders we need aren’t being displayed. There seems to be a few that probably won’t ever be used as well.

To make the mixer less confusing were going to hide the one’s we don’t want, and display the ones we do.

In order to do this we need to have a look in the properties box.

Note: Hidden sliders can be brought back at any time if required.

This is how you get to the mixer properties dialog box.

Action:

At the top left hand corner of the Volume Control, Click on Options>Properties

Before we

First we have the ‘Mixer device:’ dropdown menu.

Note: This is only used if you have more than one soundcard/audio device connected to your computer.

You can use this to select each of the devices enabling you to alter its volume controls.

Next there is the ‘Adjust volume for’ box.

This selects which of the two mixers controls are displayed after you press ‘OK’.

It also swaps between the two ‘Show the following volume controls:’ list (don’t panic, all will become clear shortly).

Selecting ‘Playback’ then ‘OK’ displays the ‘Volume Control’ and allows you to adjust the volume of the sound you hear from your computers soundcard.

Note: Remember the Windows mixer defaults to the above view when its first opened.

Selecting ‘Recording’ then ‘OK’ displays the ‘Recording Control’ and allows you to choose the source (input) and adjust the input volume of any connected sound equipment (guitar, microphone, minidisk etc) you want to record into your computer (we’ll talk more about this later).

Last is the ‘Show the following volume controls’ box.

Here’s where were going to select what sliders are displayed on the ‘Volume Control’ and ‘Recording Control’s.

We’ll choose sliders for the ‘Volume Control’ first.

Action:

Click the dot next to ‘Adjust Volume for’, ‘Playback’.

The list under ‘Show the following volume controls’ shows all the available sliders for the ‘Volume Control’.

Now it’s time to decide which slider you want displayed.

In normal circumstances these are the sliders most commonly selected for the volume control (if you see anything else you think you might need then tick that also).

Note: The names and order may differ slightly depending on which soundcard you have. Some soundcards may not support all the listed controls.

Action:

Tick: Volume Control, Wave, Microphone, Line, CD Audio, Midi Out, Synth. Un-tick everything else.

Weren’t that easy! Now lets do it for the record control.

Action:

Click the dot next to ‘Adjust Volume Control for’, ‘Recording’.

The list has now changed to display all the sliders available for the

‘Recording control’.

These are the most common record controls, but as before if you see any others you might need tick them also.

Action:

Tick: Microphone, Line, CD Audio, Stereo out (What U Hear), Synth.

Un-tick everything else.

Now we’ve got all the sliders we need we’ll go through what they do.

First the Volume control.

This controls all the sound that comes out of your soundcard and under normal circumstances doesn’t affect the recording sound that’s sent to your Music/Audio program.

Action:

Click on the dot next ‘Adjust Volume for’, ‘Playback’ and click ‘OK’.

Volume Control, (Master): Controls the overall volume of every thing combined.

Wave: This slider controls the volume of any sound that’s created by the computers software.

Microphone: If a microphone is connected to the Mic socket on the back of your PC, this slider determines how loud you monitor it back though your speakers.

Line: If a Guitar/Minidisk, etc is connected to the line socket on the back of your PC, this slider determines how loud you monitor it back though your speakers.

CD Audio: On older PC’s this controls the volume of the CD player thought your PC’s speakers. On newer systems the CD audio comes though the wave slider.

Midi out: This will control the volume of your midi output and/or the volume of the midi synth. You will only hear the soundcards Synth though your speakers. All other midi devices will produce there own sound.

Synth: Same as above.