Audacity Forum

When I'm recording, it is picking up the song AND my voice in the background. Almost like a karaoke type thing. I only want the music, not my voice at all. Have I configured something wrong?
Example: I recorded a song and you can hear me cough and talk in the playback.

You told the computer to use its built-in microphone instead of wherever the song is coming from. That will pick up your speakers and anything else in the room with you.

Where is the music coming from?

Koz

Youtube

You don't want to be recording from the mic... What you want is stereo mix... How you achieve that depends on what operating system you have...

Check this topic on the wiki: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... e_computer

I have a Toshiba Laptop Satellite C655 using Windows 7. I went to the Device manager,etc. until I got to the "Sound" tab. I clicked on "Recording tab and it comes up "Microphone, Conexant CX20671 Smart Audio HD". There was no "Stereo Mix" option. (I right clicked to see all "disabled devices", but there were none.) Is it possible this system has no "Stereo Mix? If so, I guess I'm out of luck. I bought it only 2 months old.

I guess I'm out of luck.

Not yet. Did you go all the way through that web page? Sometimes the Stereo Mix option is buried under layers of Windowness.

If all else fails, you can install Total Recorder and use that.

http://www.highcriteria.com/

Koz

Thanks Koz,
Just for the heck of it, I googled "stereo mix for Toshiba model C655" and it looks like I'm not the Lone Ranger. Several people said they had the exact same problem. In fact one person was going to the Better Business Bureau to complain that Toshiba should mention that certain models do not offer stereo mix and should alert the buyer in the specs of the product.
I still tried drilling down into the Windows page to see if any stereo mix was buried somewhere but no luck. Oh well, like I mentioned earlier, my voice and background noise still come through when I burn a song. I'll just have to make sure I'm quiet as a mouse when recording. (but that still will be a pain in the butt.)
Maybe I'll try that site you mentioned. In the meantime, thanks for your help and if anybody else out there has any other ideas, let me know. Thanks again.
Bill

billiwill wrote:Thanks Koz,
Just for the heck of it, I googled "stereo mix for Toshiba model C655" and it looks like I'm not the Lone Ranger. Several people said they had the exact same problem. In fact one person was going to the Better Business Bureau to complain that Toshiba should mention that certain models do not offer stereo mix and should alert the buyer in the specs of the product.

That's more likely to be a software problem (windows drivers) than an hardware problem...

billiwill wrote:Oh well, like I mentioned earlier, my voice and background noise still come through when I burn a song. I'll just have to make sure I'm quiet as a mouse when recording. (but that still will be a pain in the butt.)

That's because you're recording the sound coming out of the speakers through the mic. That's far from optimal scenario... And you'll be recording in mono and with a lot of added noise and distortion (from both the mic capture and the speakers output).

billiwill wrote:Maybe I'll try that site you mentioned. In the meantime, thanks for your help and if anybody else out there has any other ideas, let me know.

You have lots of other options here... There quite a few apps (mpeg streamclip, youtube downloader, etc) and plugins (DownloadHelper, FlashGot) for browsers like FireFox, that allow you to download youtube videos.
I'm not a windows user so I can't recommend any app for windows, but if you google for it you'll probably find tons of info about downloading youtube videos...