[BookCat]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum, if not please move.

I'm having problems recording audio on my Windows 7 laptop. I've been trying to do this using a headset and Audacity software. The problem is that the laptop has a build-in microphone (but not a webcam) and this is what is recording the audio, not the headset microphone. I tried disabling the in built mic by pressing the 'mic off' button which is to the left of my keyboard (it has a pic of a mic crossed out), but this disables ALL microphone input devices, not just the one on the pc.

So I checked the pc's inbuilt manual, and found this:

Setting the microphone mute button in Windows 7 and Windows Vista
When you press the microphone mute button, all of the recording devices are set on mute or unmute;
this is the default setting.
To change the setting, do the following:
1. Press Fn+F6. The Communications settings window opens.
2. Click the Manage Settings button. The Communications Utility window opens.
3. On the VoIP Call Settings tab, click Microphone mute button settings. The Setting for Microphone
Mute window opens.
4. Select Only the recording device selected below:. Then select the recording device from the
drop-down list box.
5. Click OK.


I followed these steps but found only one device in the drop down this, so chose this. It made no difference. The input device was still the computer's built in mic. I knew this from the fact that I could record audio even if the headphone microphone wasn't plugged into the laptop.

How do I persuade my computer to record from the headphone? I want to do this because, in the past, this has led to far higher quality recordings with less background noise and hiss.

Any ideas welcome. Please use non tech terminology because I'm not very good at this sort of thing. Thanks lots in advance. If anything I've said needs clarification, please ask.