Recording Speaker Output

Special Interest Groups Recording Techniques
1

I can’t seem to record speaker output. I’ve turned off the built-in mic input, turned up the speaker output on my system. The levels look good on the meter tool as I’m recording, but the resulting recording is barely audible.

I’ve searched this forum and found no other answer except to look for other software (MX, WireTap, etc.). Is this true? Can Audacity record speaker output er not? I hate to post what must seem a very redundant question, but I couldn’t find the answer and this board seems a little slow at times (a least on this question).

My searches were centered around recording Skype sessions, because my real aim is to record old phone messages, and the reason I signed on to Skype as well as Audacity. But, I’ve also tried recording output from iTunes and an audio CD (other stuff coming out of the speakers). Nada.

I’m running a Mac PowerBook G4, OSX 10.4

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I pretty tired of saving these messages every 14 days!!

Thanks,
Scott

2

<<<I hate to post what must seem a very redundant question,>>>

Redundant, but not easy.

I use a license of WireTap on both of my Macs, but Apple hosts a program called SoundFlower that will do a lot of the same things. I understand SoundFlower has no scheduler like WireTap does. You have to be there in real time.

I bet you’re wondering why Mac left this obvious trick out of their standard installation? Because on Windows, this causes problems. A lot of problems. For every person who can record radio shows from the internet, there are two people who wonder why their live guitar performance capture has echoes in it. That’s because in Windows, it’s possible to leave multiple recording pathways open at once and some are later than others giving you echoes.

Nobody has that problem on a Mac.

Koz