I use Audacity 2.4.2 on Windows 10 (x64), on a HP Pavilion Gaming laptop.
I wish to record some sounds that I listen to on my computer, for personal use. For example, a radio newscast which I would like to save for later, personal listening.
This is something that I used to do on my old laptop (a Toshiba Satelite, running on Windows 10 x64 as well) without problem.
But since I have this new computer, when I try to record sound from the computer in Audacity, the best I can manage to record (whether using the MME or WASAPI host) is a very low-quality audio which sounds like it is heavily compressed.
The “blue sound drawing” (I apologize for not knowing how to name it) isn’t contrasted at all, it stays at relatively the same level throughout. It doesn’t change when there’s a silence in the original audio which is eing recorded.
Making the Stereo Mix the default recording device in my Sound Control Panel didn’t help.
For the sake of an example, I will attach a prior recording of my own voice made with my camera (“orig” file) as well as an Audacity recording of it while played on VLC (“auda” file).
(While the original recording isn’t of a great quality, the Audacity re-recording of it is noticeably worse.)
I am also sending screen captures of the “blue sound drawing” zone for each of these audio files.
Alas, I have tried to access it, and I reached the “Speakers Properties” window, but I see no “Enhancements” tab there (that tab is absent), and therefore I cannot access the equalizer this way.
Something crossed my mind while thinking about this: there seems to be a “B&O” software inside of my PC, which also seems to handle sound in a way or another. Could it be a problem (for example, by being in conflict with the Realtek driver)?
The recording has a very nasty 17.6Hz modulation running though it - just about as loud as the original recording. So here is how to get rid of it:
Amplify the bad recording by -30dB. (Don’t worry, because Audacity uses 32-bit float internally, you won’t lose anything)
Run the Effect: “Filter Curve” this way: Click on Flatten Scale. Click on the flat curve at 60Hz (0bB) and drag it all the way up to the top: 30dB. Click on this same line at 50Hz and run it all the way down to the bottom: -30dB. (You will now see a nice light-green curve going down to -30dB at 40Hz).
I’m having the exact same problem, and I cannot figure out what is the problem. I’m running Audacity 2.4.2 on Windows 10.
Here is an example using a clip of royalty-free music from Bensound.com. The first is from the direct download off the website, and the second is playing from the website while being recorded by Audacity using Windows WASAPI and Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) (loopback). I’ve turned off any audio enhancements I can find, I’ve got the latest Realtek driver.
What is going on here? The WASAPI recording feature is useless if this is what it captures.
What makes you say that? With all due respect, I can’t see anything in the OP that differs from my problem.
The 10-second WAV’s were too big to attach, which is why I encoded 320 kbps mp3’s with lame 3.99r. I’ve attached shorter WAV clips to keep them under the size limit.
On major difference between these two charts is the lack of low frequencies below 300 Hz in the WASAPI file. (There also seems to be a boost between 1.5kHz and 4kHz).
I can simulate the first effect, for example, by applying a High Pass Filter to your downloaded file at 300 Hz and 48dB per octave (which is a lot):
So somewhere in you download chain you are losing all of your low frequencies. What happens when you audacity to record VLC playing your downloaded file?
