Audacity waits for sound to begin recording even though “sound activated” recording is not checked. I have tried to disable both in preferences-recording and from transport toolbar. I would like to start the recording a few seconds before the music begins.
Please, have a look at the pink panel at the top of the page and give your version of Audacity (all three numbers) and version of Windows.
Please also tell us exactly you are recording, using what equipment.
If you are recording computer playback using the Windows WASAPI host and (loopback) input, you may find that once you have recorded and stopped the first time, the next recording from the same application playing the sound will start recording before there is sound.
Alternatively if you have stereo mix input on your computer, choose that instead. If this is the issue, please see Tutorial - Recording Computer Playback on Windows - Audacity Manual.
If the problem is something else, you could try installing or reinstalling the current Audacity 2.1.1 version from http://audacityteam.org/download/windows and make sure that half way through the installation, you enable the “Reset Preferences” box. Then when you launch Audacity after installation, confirm you want to Reset Preferences.
Gale
Gale,
I used the installer to install the latest version 2.1.1 onto my Windows 10 operating system.
Gale,
I was trying to record from a youtube recording using WASAPI.
Thanks for any help,
John
There is no way to make WASAPI loopback recording pad with silence if recording is suspended awaiting input. Do you want to vote for such a feature?
What is the actual purpose of starting the recording before the music begins? What you can do is Generate > Silence… , choose the time you want to add before the music begins, OK, then hold SHIFT and click Record. Then play the YouTube video and it will start recording after the end of the silence you generated.
Note you do not have to record YouTube videos. As long as you use a browser that supports extensions (Microsoft Edge does not at the moment) then you can add an extension that downloads the video itself (do not add an extension that converts the video to MP3 audio because that loses quality).
Then add FFmpeg to your computer as per http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_installation_and_plug_ins.html#ffdown. Drag the downloaded video into Audacity and it will extract the audio for you, in as good a quality as it was in the video file.
Or, if your computer has stereo mix, use that instead to record, as I already suggested. Then when you press record you will start recording very quiet noise at once and you can start the YouTube video when you want.
Gale
Gale,
Thank you for your reply. I need to have a few seconds before the music starts because I am practicing with the recording and need time to pick up my bow and position my bass. I will try your suggestion of generating a few seconds of silence before making the recording.
Thanks,
John