Muting internet radio while recording

I’ve searched all the forums and read all the help manuals and can’t find the answer to this question; I use AUDACITY version 2.06.

I’ve been able to schedule/record internet radio; however, I can’t find a way to mute or turn the volume down on the source audio. If I turn the volume down or mute the radio program, AUDACITY does not recognize an audio signal and therefore does not record/playback anything.

I also can’t adjust the settings to allow the playback to be as “pure” as the radio sound going in. Seems to be a “tunnel” effect on playback. Not a huge deal, but it’d be nice if the playback replicated the input sound.

If this question has been answered elsewhere I apologize; however, every search term I entered came up with nothing - closest I came to an answer was an explanation on how to listen while recording; I want the opposite.

Thank you in advance.

You may not be recording what you think you’re recording. On many computers, the sound is pushed all the way out to the speaker feed and then turned around and brought back in. So you are recording the analog playback errors and the analog record errors of your sound card. This also explains why you can’t “turn it down” while you’re recording. That is the master sound pathway.

You can get around this with external speakers that have their own volume control, or headphones.

As far as the hollow echo goes, you may also be recording Windows Enhanced Services, which likes voices OK but hates music.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_audio_playing_on_the_computer.html

Koz

thanks for the input, Koz. I will try the things you mentioned and study the link you provided.

Appreciate the help.

I run Audacity on my Windows 7 64-bit laptop.

For recording streaming audio I set WASAPI as my audio host and use " … (loopback)" as my input device.
See this page in the Manual: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/device_toolbar.html

Using this set up I can use the level sliders to adjust the listening volume without affecting the signal level.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/mixer_toolbar.html

Furthermore my understanding of WASAPI (patchy as it is) is that you get closer access to the direct digital input that way - avoiding the tortuous soundpaths that Koz writes about.

WC

I assume you are on Vista or later - you didn’t say. This is documented at http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windows_7_OS#silent_record and of course at http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_computer_playback_on_windows.html.


Gale