Recording from a tape deck

[Patscats]

I have connected the Audio Out socket on my tape deck to the Audio In socket on my iMac, but when I record, any external noise is also recorded. I downloaded Soundflower which was supposed to help but I am simply getting nowhere. Can anyone help please?

[kozikowski]

Unless you're trying to record from the internet, Soundflower isn't going to help and it may make matters worse. Keep the installer but delete SoundFlower from your Applications.

Apple > System Preferences > Hardware > Sound > Input > Line-In

Set the input slider so the blue patch sound meters flashes in the top third when you play the music.

Close the panel.

You may need to open up the Audacity preferences, too, but sometimes not. Launch Audacity and click inside the record meters and they should wake up and show you the recording level without actually going into record.

Koz

[Patscats]

Thanks Koz

I have done what you suggested and so far it seems to be working. Strangely enough, before I downloaded Soundflower I was just using Audacity on its own and I am sure I had the Apple sound settings as you describe. I suppose I can't have. I have recorded off the Internet before as well, but had to make sure all was quiet while I was doing so. Is there a way round that so you don't get other noise on your recording?

Pat

[kozikowski]

To cover the philosophy first, what you're doing is playing the internet show in your speakers and recording it using the computer's built-in microphone. The microphone, of course, is also recording the whole room and the show quality isn't too good.

Macs do not have the ability to record internet shows without Adding Stuff.

The most drop-dead simple thing you can do is connect the Headphone-Out to the Line-In with a short 3.5mm stereo shielded audio cable...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2102970

That will give you good but not excellent sound and you will not be able to hear what you're doing. Then you can get crazy with a "Y" cable so you can plug you earbuds in.

The top quality capture software used to be WireTap, but I stopped recommending them because of their latest version for Intel/Leopard Macs. It's way too complex and crazy. They tried to make it into a full-on production package and in the process damaged some of the features I liked best. It no longer produces a sound file for example.

And then there's little SoundFlower. I put SoundFlower on my machine, tried it, and took it right back off. The joke is SoundFlower makes the Mac sound system as unstable as Windows machines are all the time. Given how expensive it is, I'm keeping it in my back pocket in the event there's just no other way.

Then there is the much more exotic software packages that allow you to download the actual sound file, but that fails on most YouTube submissions, etc.

I think that covers it.

Koz