Sounds

Hi, I am in a starting metalcore band. I have been screaming and singing clean vocals for almost 3 years of good solid hard practice. April of 2009, i bought a Samson C10U usb Condenser Microphone (they are like $185 [I included the tax] here in Ontario, Canada). I only need a mic for recording purposes, which this mic does a EXCELLENT job at… at least it did for a while… Just recently… coincidently ever since I got my new laptop (Toshiba Satellite L500) things have gone down hill when i record my vocals. I have always used and gotten the hang of Audacity. I don’t know why now, but when i go to do a long scream for example, it will only pick up like half of it, then the other half goes missing, or sounds distorted. I don’t understand… It can’t be the laptop… it is very decent, and way better than my last computer. Here are some specs so maybe someone can help me out?

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista (Home Premium) [64-Bit OS]
-Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor T400 (2Ghz)
-RAM: 3Ghz
-Sound: Realtek High Definition Audio (Yes I have a HD soundboard, and my recording still sucks…)

For Audacity I have it set up with the following settings:

AUDIO I/O
-Playback Device: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
-Recording Device: Samson C10U usb Condenser Microphone (Realtek High Definition Audio)
-Channels: 1 (Mono); [I was told this would minimize the chances of missing audio]

QUALITY:
Sample Rate: 44100 Hz (CD Quality)
Default Sample Rate: 16-bit [again was told this would minimize the chances of missing audio]
Realtime Sample RC: High-quality sinc interpolation
High-quality Sample RC: High-quality sinc interpolation
Realtime dither: Shaped
High-quality dither: Triangle

FILE FORMATS
When importing uncompressed audio files into Audacity:
>Read directly directly from original file (faster)

Uncompressed Export Format:
>WAV (Microsoft 16-bit PCM)

OGG Export Setup:
OGG Quality > 10
(I dont think you need to know if i turn it into a mp3 or not)

SPECTROGRAMS
FFT Size: 256 – Default
Grayscale: "Unchecked"
Maximum Frequency: 8000 Hz

Thanks for being patient looking at this . I know it is a lot, but please help if you can!

It’s a condenser mic; Condenser mic’s require a power source. So= check the battery in the microphone, or make sure that it is supplied by a source capable of providing "phantom power"