Help! Can't record intelligible audio using Audio in AP 10 (please read for details)

[Lagil]

I'm trying to record audio using the Audio recording function in Adobe Presenter 10. I'm using a USB microphone, but, when I try to record, all I get is a lot of garbled noise. I've tried recording using both the "Mic" and "Line In" settings, but neither yields anything intelligible (although the Line In option yields audio that's just slightly more intelligible). When I use the Mic setting and the "Checking Input Level" box comes up, nothing happens to the "meter" as I read the test sentence -- it seems that AP 10 doesn't recognize that I even have a mic plugged in.

But here's where it gets especially weird.... I have no problem recording nice clear audio using that same microphone when I use AP 10's Video recording functionality! Granted, that does seem to use a sort of separate "add-on" component, but, still, if that component can recognize my microphone, why can't Adobe Presenter's "base" application? (I also have no problems importing audio files, but that's a whole other thing.)

Unfortunately, my company doesn't subscribe to an Adobe's service contract (they're wildly expensive for what might be a once or twice a year thing) and I'm not allowed to purchase a one-time support call (also wildly expensive). So, I'm hoping that someone here might be able to help me, the way I've helped so many folks on other, similar forums in the past.... I'm especially hoping for some kind of quick response, as I'm supposed to demo this software to several potential purchasers of this software in my organization and they're particularly interested in this specific piece of functionality (since they want to use AP to record pseudo-"podcasts" that employees can access from our Adobe server).

Thanks in advance!

Laura

P.S. In case it helps, I'm using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 7 and am using Adobe Presenter 10 with PowerPoint 2010. I'm using a Plantronics DSP400 USB mic (which, as I said, works just fine with the AP video-recording app).

[Jorma_at_CoSo]

Have you tried using a different mic? This may be the fastest way to identify if the problem is the mic or Presenter. It sounds like Presenter, but it is worth trying. Any mic should do whether it is a USB headset or webcam.

Was the mic plugged in prior to launching PPT/Presenter?

Is your USB mic the default input in Windows? I suppose it could be that a different mic is being used, I used to have a laptop that had the built in mic under the keyboard and it sounded horrible whenever that was accidentally selected.

I've not had to change the Mic/Line In options as long as I've been using Presenter (6), and I recall they didn't really make a difference when I did play with them. Sounds like you have seen a similar result, no significant difference.

[Lagil]

Thanks for responding so quickly!!

I'll have to look around for another mic to try with, but, since the one I was using worked beautifully when using the Video recording option in Presenter, I don't know how it could be the mic....

Yes, I definitely plugged in the mic before launching Presenter, but I'm not 100% sure whether it was before launching PPT. I'll definitely try playing around with that, since I know that Audition gets very cranky if I try to plug in my mic after launching Audition.

Yes, my USB mic was the default input in Windows (I did check that), but I think Presenter's audio recording functionality may be ignoring that for some reason.

If anything else occurs to you, I'd be very grateful if you could let me know. This is really driving me kind of nuts! I've been using Presenter for many years, but, after having issues with recording audio in it (working on a former co-worker's computer) early on (like, maybe 8 years ago or more??), I switched to recording files outside of Presenter and then importing them and never looked back. The frustrating thing, though, is that I have current co-workers who do use Presenter to do their recording, so I don't know why it just doesn't like me!

[Jorma_at_CoSo]

Well let us know how another mic works (or doesn't). I too have moved to recording outside of Presenter, though not from technical issues. I just find that I can get a better quality recording by using dedicated audio software.

There may just be something about that mic and Presenter. You might also try creating a new PPT deck and just testing recording in there. I doubt it will make a difference, but it is a quick and cheap test.

[Lagil]

I agree...I prefer to record sound files outside of Presenter and then import them, but some folks in my organization don't have/want to get audio recording software and/or don't want to bother to learn to use it...recording directly into Presenter (especially if you're not going to do any significant editing afterwards) is simpler for them. At any rate, I needed to be able to demo that functionality at an upcoming meeting, so I'm just happy to have figured out how to fix my problem

Thank you very much for your responses -- I really, truly appreciate the time you took to post them for me!

[Lagil · Accepted solution]

Okay - problem solved. Here's what happened this morning...

I started my computer fresh (as I do every morning...I always shut down at night). I plugged in my mic before starting PowerPoint at all. I started PowerPoint, brought up the presentation I wanted to do the test recording on, and clicked the Record option in the Audio section. This time, when the level check came up and I spoke, it was registering green so I thought, "Yay - problem fixed!" Not so fast.... When I actually recorded something and played it back, it was still garbled and useless. Then I thought, "maybe it's still trying to pick up the audio from the built-in mic, instead of the USB mic," so I pressed the microphone mute button on my laptop (hardware button). I noticed that the Presenter recorder thingy showed the mute symbol, which confirmed that it thought that was the mic I should be using (even though, in the settings, I had the USB mic as the "active" one). So I went into the Sound panel and actually disabled the built-in mic and pressed the hardware mic mute button (the one I had pressed before) to deselect the muting. Then, when I went back into Presenter and tried recording again, voila!, it actually recorded from my USB mic and everything was kitties and rainbows!

So, if anyone else is having the same problem and reading this thread (which is the main reason I came back here to document all of this), the solution is to actually completely disable the built-in mic and, possibly, to also be sure to plug in your USB mic before launching PowerPoint. (Not 100% sure that the second part is necessary, but it certainly can't hurt...)

[Jorma_at_CoSo]

Ah the built in mic... bane of my audio recording! Glad you figured it out and have it working now