Recording BBC Radio programmes

[pswinbank]

I am having another go at recording BBC radio programmes.
I tried in September and had to give up, failed
I recorded with no problems last year on a desktop running XP

I'm now using a brand new Aspire 8943G high-end laptop, running Windows 7 of course.

First of all, I'm getting a flat "waveform" display when I try to record a programme.
What problem does that indicate please?

Thanks, Peter

[waxcylinder]

Firstly you don't really give us enough information on you recording process.

So I will assume the most likely scenario: you are trying to record audio that is playing on your PC from the BBC website, right? Many modern PCs have had the abillity to record streaming audio removed (presumably in an attenptto try to prevent/reduce piracy). Whether you can do this depends on a combination of your PC, its O/S, your sound card and its associated drivers. See this article in the Wiki: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer

The Wiki articles on W7 may also be of help to you: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windows_7_OS
And do note that for W7 you should be using Audacity 1.3 and bot 1.2 - you can get 1.3 from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

It is possible that the ability to record streaming audio on your PC has not been removed, just hiiden. In which case this Wiki article will aslo probably be useful: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel

Personally I normally try to capture BBC programmes off-air from FM broadcasts as this gives me better quality. For this you just need to connnect the output of an FM tuner to the line-in of a PC - however as you are using a laptop you may not have a limne-in only a mic-in (which will not be suitable) in which case you would also need an external USB soundcard. The only problem with off-air capture is that it has to be done in real-time at the time of broadcast - but 1.3 can help you out here as the developers have added a Timer Record function.

WC

[pswinbank]

Hello WC, thanks for this very helpful and comprehensive response to my query.
I'm sorry that I did not give you more details.
I'm not at all a technical person so it's difficult for me to describe what I'm doing.

<...you are trying to record audio that is playing on your PC from the BBC website, right? >
Yes, that's right.

< See this article in the Wiki: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer>
I'll study that, thanks.

<The Wiki articles on W7 may also be of help to you: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windows_7_OS>
Ditto. Although I've already had a quick look at those and found it heavy going I'm afraid. What is the Mixer Toolbar, what does it look like?

<And do note that for W7 you should be using Audacity 1.3 and bot 1.2>
I'm using Beta 1.3.12 which I downloaded on 3 August
I also downloaded lame_enc.dll at the same time. That has disappeared off the face of the earth (well at least from my Windows 7)!
I don't know what "bot 1.2" is? Should I be using this?

<It is possible that the ability to record streaming audio on your PC has not been removed, just hiiden. In which case this Wiki article ...>
I'll look at this too.

<Personally I normally try to capture BBC programmes off-air from FM broadcasts as this gives me better quality.>
I used to be able to record BBC 3 concerts for example, several days after they were broadcaset. Is that what you mean?

Once agian, thank you so much for your interest in my problem.
I'd really like to get it working having spent quite a bit of time wrestling with it!

Peter

[waxcylinder]

Opps, sorry a typo - "bot 1.2" should read "not 1.2"

I assumed that you were on 1.2 Audacity as you posted in the 1.2 section of the forum and not the 1.3 section.

If you are recording concerts up to 7 days following broadcast then you are not recording off-air FM - you are recording the audio playing on your computer (from the BBC Listen Again functionality). So my original comments apply. As I said earlier I prefer to use an FM tuner to receive the broadcast off FM radio and record that into Audacity.

Once you have digested the reading and done some playing, if you are still getting stuck do post again telling us where and how you are stuck.

The Mixer Toolbar is the Audacity Toolbar that has the two sliderd with a little loudspeaker icon and a little microphone icon. The mic slider controls the input signal level the speaker slider controls the output level. You need to carefully manage the input signal level so that you do not oversaturate your signal and get clipping.

WC

[pswinbank]

WC, thanks for this.
I'll read and inwardly digest as you suggest.
I'd love to know how to record from the FM tuner ...
But that's a project for another time, after I've sorted this one out

Peter

[pswinbank]

WC, would you mind looking for my post today 10 Nov on the 1.3.x forum?
Thanks.

Peter

[waxcylinder]

I'd love to know how to record from the FM tuner ...

It's essentially just the same as recording from a record deck or cassette deck - see: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... iscs_to_CD

In my case I have RCA outputs on my tuner (originally designed to feed the pre-amp in the stack) these are connected to my PC via an external USB soundcard, though if you have a line-in port on your PC (unlikely with a laptop) and a decent onboard soundcard (more likely in a desktop than a laptop) you should be able to plug direct from the tuner to the PC.

WC