Audacity Forum

I am trying to record streaming audio silently, ideally while I sleep, so I don’t have to be playing it loudly while I do other things on my computer or at my desk (this is for an online course, which I’d like to be able to put on my iPod). I have downloaded several different software programs to do this, including audacity and the free sound recorder. All theoretically should be able to record silently (according to some website I have seen). However, I can’t seem to be able to make any of them do it.
It seems that the problem is that I can’t get WINDOWS 7 to display any recording devices other than microphone, and therefore can’t get the recording software to record from anything other than the microphone. I right clicked on the sound in the tray, and selected “recording,” then clicked in the white space below the devices it displayed and selected “show disabled devices” and “show disconnected devices.” But it continues to show only “microphone” and another “microphone” that it says is not plugged in, presumably a category for an external mic, which I don’t use.
Other discussions of the topic of how to choose input sources suggest that something like “what u hear” or another similar thing should be visible in the windows sound managing window when I have followed the steps above. But nothing of the kind is visible.
I have two ideas of how I could record streaming audio silently if only I could get windows to allow me to select a source other than the microphone. If you have any ideas on how to get WINDOWS 7 to display such sources, that would be wonderful. The two option are below and I’d love comments on them too.

OPTION 1:
Record directly from sound card.

OPTION 2:
Record directly from line-in, and then use a use male/male 3.5mm line in to go from one audio jack (earphones) to another (mic). I’ve seen a friend do this successfully on a mac, it seems like it should work on a PC too. But that, too, requires that the “line-in” be displayed somewhere in the sound options and I can’t get that to be one.
Anyway, recording directly from the soundcard is preferable if it is possible.

Thanks for your help,

Alex

Macs and grown-up PCs have connections that make this much easier. Windows Laptops are not designed for sound production.

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

When you run out of options, there's always money-based software.

http://www.highcriteria.com/

Koz

Chironares wrote:It seems that the problem is that I can’t get WINDOWS 7 to display any recording devices other than microphone, and therefore can’t get the recording software to record from anything other than the microphone. I right clicked on the sound in the tray, and selected “recording,” then clicked in the white space below the devices it displayed and selected “show disabled devices” and “show disconnected devices.” But it continues to show only “microphone” and another “microphone” that it says is not plugged in, presumably a category for an external mic, which I don’t use.

An increasing number of Win 7 PCs do not have "Stereo Mix" ("What U Hear" is the same as "Stereo Mix" - it's just different terminology that is used on "Creative Labs" sound cards). It looks like your computer falls into the category of not having this feature.

Some streaming media (such as YouTube) can be downloaded using plug-ins with Firefox web browser (for example: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefo ... downloade/ )

In case you are interested, I found a solution to the problem here:

http://www.roemersoftware.com/vista-rec ... oblem.html

basically if I use the double programmed 3.5mm cable (one on each end) this problem is easily solved. The only thing I am concerned about is avoiding frying the sound card. If you have advice on appropriate volume levels, etc, that would be helpful. I'll check back in a day or two to see if you have ideas, but in the meantime I will just record at a low volume.

A

Come to think of it I do also have one question with this method.

OK so I ended up just trying the stereo-to-stereo method, after a
conversation with a friend and it worked. But if I am going to use this
regularly I am concerned about damaging the sound card. Any advice on
how to avoid that? I understand that I should start low, but if that
produces too quiet a recording I will want to crank it up so that I
can hear it well. Can I crank it is up so that it produces a recording
that plays loudly, and can be heard over a reasonable amount of
ambient noise?

Turn the Recording level up quite high and keep the playback level low. Aim for a peak recording level that is about half the track height (about -6 dB on the recording meter). After recording, disconnect the "loopback" cable. Use the Amplify effect to bring the recorded track up to 0 dB or just a bit lower.