Christy, The most important thing I can tell you is to keep either side out of the red lights as much as possible while recording. Undesired distortion is nearly impossible to overcome once the file has been recorded. Having said that, the program's options are most likely set in such as way that it is saving the single monophonic track being recorded (your source) as a stereophonic result on your hard drive (the file it is creating during the rip) OR you may not be watching what you think those bars represent. I'll deal with these two possibilities separately below. The sky is the limit when it comes to your approach to ripping your tapes. Assuming your source tape recorded the performances across both channels of the cassettes, I've found it best to record it 'as is' and see whatever I have to work with 'in post'. If one side is much worse than the other, I will usually delete the bad side and then simply work on cleaning up the good side all by itself. When I'm finished and happy with my result, I'll mirror that over to the other side to create a two channel monophonic file. Assuming your source recording only used a single side of the original tapes, you can sent the tape desk through a preamp that can take a single channel monophonic track and output it equally over both left and right channels 'to the board' (your computer). You can also record whatever comes through to the board 'as is' and work on cleaning it up 'in post' by removing the non-music side and then duplicating the real track onto the other side to create a pseudo-stereo file. Over the years, I've found it best to keep things as simple as possible. Life gets even more interesting if the original recording was done in stereo, but that's a topic for another chapter. If you've ever worked in a recording studio and spent any significant time in "The Booth", you should have witnessed the engineer pressing a button or two to change what comes through their playback monitors. One button might route the live performance directly to their speakers, another let's them hear parts of or all of what's already been recorded and yet another lets them mix the two (plus there are plenty that let them make all sorts of mixes excluding certain tracks, etc.). The program you're using most likely has similar functions and it's up to you to 'track' down what those signal bars are actually showing you. It is very much in your best interest to seek out all of the buttons and switches that control what comes through your speakers and those signal bars so that you know, without any doubts, what you're viewing at all times. From your description, it sounds like you have a single track monophonic recording (only one side of the tape recorded the original material), but the program you're using is set to spread that cross two sides of a stereo file. If all of the above is true (and it's very possible that I'm not guessing properly), I wouldn't do that. I would have it record only the one valuable channel to a single channel, true monophonic file that can be widened to a dual channel file when all editing has been done (just before burning). Hopefully, something here will guide you towards making better rips and working with the results. If I'm not addressing what you're trying to ask, let me know. :O) Peace, G "The only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked" ----- Original Message ----- From: "cristy" <poppy0206@xxxxxxx> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 4:34 PM Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- audacity program question, recording from tape to computer Hi, I am getting back to my project recording old cassette tapes to the computer. The songs seem to be recording but I noticed only the left bar lighting up (filling up) while it is recording. When I play back both left and right bars are lit up. Am I recording in mono somehow and playing back in stereo? Is that possible and if so how do I fix it in stereo? thanks.. Christy --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. To unsubscribe or change your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to: pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------