Recording problems on Windows 7 - Beats Audio

[annka123]

I just purchased a new computer and loaded the latest Audacity program. I've always used the older version to record streaming audio, but can't seem to do it properly with this new release. Maybe someone out there has some ideas that will help. Here are some observations:

1) While I see split tracks, the recording is not in stereo. Both tracks are exactly the same (see #4 below - it might explain this issue but I can't seem to change it).
2) I don't seem to be recording the full range of sound. The base is very high and the "color" of the music is muted compared with the orginal.
3) In the drop down options at the front of each track, the "left" channel is checked but greyed out. Maybe I'm recording only the left channel and nothing else, but I can't seem to change this.
4) The only combination at the top of the screen that seems to record anything is MME+Speaker/Headphone+Stereo Mix+2 Stereo. I can't discover a different available combination that records any sound at all.

I'd be so grateful if you could offer some suggestions. I'm not a technology saavy person, so please be as specific as possible with your directions.

Thanks,

Annka

[steve]

You've missed out an important detail - what are you trying to record?

Have a look here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Troub ... Recordings

[annka123]

Sorry -- I'm trying to record audio only from YouTube, internet radio programs, BBC Radio programs via their iPlayer to name just a few. On the earlier release of Audacity, I could select "record what you hear" and this worked great. With the new release, this option is no longer there.

Annka

[steve]

On the earlier release of Audacity, I could select "record what you hear" and this worked great

Was that on the same computer with the same operating system?

For YouTube it's quicker (and better sound quality) to download the file directly from YouTube and then convert the file to Audio.
There are several plug-ins available for Firefox that enable downloading from YouTube. Go here and search for "YouTube": https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

To convert (extract) the audio from the downloaded file, just import the file into Audacity. As long as you're using the latest version of Audacity 1.3 and have FFMpeg installed then this will work.

[annka123]

I successfully used Audacity on both Windows XP Desktop and Vista Laptop computers. I now have a Windows 7 computer. I don't know if it matters, but my XP computer had a stand alone audio card. This new Windows 7 computer has audio integrated in the mother board. If it will help, I would be happy to purchase a separate audio card for the new computer and disable the sound on the mother board (assuming this is possible).

I really want this to work.

Thanks,

Annka