recording off air to dell inspiron

[thekozyol]

Can anyone help me with recording off air to my Dell Inspiron laptop? The only two options that come up are Line In and Microphone, whereas on other computers I hace always found Stereo Mix. Needless to say, neither Line In nor Mic produce anything. My OS is Windows XP. Many thanks in advance.

[kozikowski]

You're not recording "off-air." That requires a radio receiver and connections to the computer.

Windows XP can usually be configured to record On-Line Streaming Audio.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer

Koz

[thekozyol]

Thanks for that Koz - yes of course I mean I am trying to capture the streaming audio from a BBC 'Listen Again' broadcast. I can hear it perfectly well through the computer, but what I can't do is capture it on Audacity because the programme as downloaded onto this laptop doesn't give me Stereo Mix as a recording option, only mic and line in. Is the problem in the on-board Dell Inspiron sound card, which is Sigma Tel Audio? I haven't had this problem on other computers/sound cards. If you can help with advice, e.g. for Windows configuration, I'd be most grateful. Anthony

[kozikowski]

On Windows XP, the software may be found under "Other" "Hidden" "Obsolete" "Advanced" or some label like that. They're getting you used to the fact that it's only supported sporadically in Vista and not at all in Win7.

Read through here...

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel

It all comes down to management of the Windows Control Panel. In WinXP, that should be the only thing to worry about. XP was pretty benign.

I can't get down to step-by-step instructions because I'm a Mac elf. My office Windows PC doesn't support this service at all.

[steve]

the programme as downloaded onto this laptop doesn't give me Stereo Mix as a recording option, only mic and line in

Check in the Windows Mixer (see here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel

"Stereo Mix" may be called "Mix", or "Sum", "What U Hear" or something similar.
If it's not listed in this screen then it's not available on your sound card and you can't use it. (The "mixer device" should say "Sigma Tel" or something on your computer, not "USB Audio" as in this picture)

[kozikowski]

Just because I haven't hijacked a thread in a long time, I opened up my office XP machine...

Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sound Recording > Realtck AC97 Audio and "Advanced" is gray.

That means I'm Surely Out of Luck, right, other than money-based software or hardware solutions.

Koz

[steve]

Start > Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sound Recording > Realtck AC97 Audio and "Advanced" is gray.

Try:
Start > Control Panel > Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices > Sounds and Audio devices > Realtck AC97 Audio
then click in the Sound Recording section > Volume (button)
Then on the panel that pops up click the Options menu item.