Recording BBC Radio programmes

[pswinbank]

Steve, <Could you remind me what your current settings are in the playback tab of the Windows Control Panel and in Audacity Preferences > Devices.
If you've not done so already - try recording some radio (without changing any settings).>

In Control Panel, I clicked on RealTek HD Audio Manager

RealTek HD Audio Manager.PNG (220.75 KiB) Viewed 1925 times

I fear that this is not what you mean by "...the playback tab of the Windows Control Panel" is it Steve?

Can you give me more clues on what to look for in the Control Panel please?

The five options presented when I right click on the Speaker icon in the System Tray are:

Open Volume Mixer
Playback Devices
Recording Devices
Sound
Volume Control Devices

Is "the playback tab" I'm after in one of these do you think?

On your question about "Audacity Preferences > Devices", please see screen shot below:

Audacity Preferences - Devices.PNG (58.9 KiB) Viewed 1925 times

Thanks, Peter

Could you remind me what your current settings are in the playback tab of the Windows Control Panel and in Audacity Preferences > Devices.
If you've not done so already - try recording some radio (without changing any settings).

If it does not work, look in the Taskbar near the system Time/Date for an icon to open the RealTek control panel - it will probably look similar to this:

If you find it, please post a screen shot of it with (a) the "Mixer" tab selected (b) the Audio I/O tab selected.
If you find a Realtek Control Panel but it looks completely different from this, just post a screenshot of whatever looks like the most relevant view.

[Gale Andrews]

Steve, <Could you remind me what your current settings are in the playback tab of the Windows Control Panel and in Audacity Preferences > Devices.
If you've not done so already - try recording some radio (without changing any settings).>

In Control Panel, I clicked on RealTek HD Audio Manager

RealTek HD Audio Manager.PNG

I fear that this is not what you mean by "...the playback tab of the Windows Control Panel" is it Steve?

Can you give me more clues on what to look for in the Control Panel please?

Steve means right-click on the Speaker icon in the System Tray then click "Playback Devices" which will bring you to the "Playback" tab in Sound.

The Realtek Control Panel in my Win7 netbook looks similar to yours. Can you click on the "Stereo Mix" tab in the Realtek Control Panel and post an image of that?



Gale

[pswinbank]

Hello Gale, <Steve means right-click on the Speaker icon in the System Tray then click "Playback Devices" which will bring you to the "Playback" tab in Sound. >
Yes, thanks. Go it.

Sound.PNG (71.36 KiB) Viewed 1906 times

<The Realtek Control Panel in my Win7 netbook looks similar to yours. Can you click on the "Stereo Mix" tab in the Realtek Control Panel and post an image of that? >

Done.

SMix.PNG (141.39 KiB) Viewed 1907 times

I'm somewhat relieved that you too are using Realtek too Gale!

Peter

[Gale Andrews]

There doesn't seem a lot more you can change.

Go back to the Playback tab of Sound in Windows. Right-click over "Speakers (Realtek)" and click "Properties". Click the "Advanced" tab. Set the "Default Format" to the same as you have for "Stereo Mix" i.e. "16 Bits, 44100 Hz (CD Quality)". Put a check in both "Exclusive Mode" boxes i.e. "Allow applications..." and "Give exclusive mode...". Click OK.

Click the "Recording" tab, right-click over "Stereo Mix" > Properties: Advanced tab. Make the Default Format the same as in the paragraph above. Make sure there is a a check in both "Exclusive Mode" boxes. Click OK.

Play your internet radio and assuming you can hear it, launch Audacity and open the Recording Preferences. Make sure it still looks like this:

Audacity Preferences - Devices.PNG (58.9 KiB) Viewed 1900 times

EXCEPT this time, change the "Host" to "Windows DirectSound". Click OK.

Now record in Audacity, making sure the input slider is turned up. If you don't record a signal, keep recording in Audacity and go back to the "Recording" tab of "Sound". Are the green bars moving to right of stereo mix?



Gale

[pswinbank]

Hello Gale, re. <....Now record in Audacity, making sure the input slider is turned up.>
Can you remind me where the "input slider" is again please.

Internet radio sound is working fine.

< Are the green bars moving to right of stereo mix?>

Right now, I can still see the static blue bars ...

Thanks, Peter

[Gale Andrews]

Hello Gale, re. <....Now record in Audacity, making sure the input slider is turned up.>
Can you remind me where the "input slider" is again please.

In the Mixer Toolbar. If you cannot see Mixer Toolbar, click View > Toolbars > Reset Toolbars,

Did you confirm or change everything else in my last post?

< Are the green bars moving to right of stereo mix?>
Right now, I can still see the static blue bars ...

So if Audacity still only records silence, click the WIndows globe (Start menu) and type

sound recorder

in the search box. Click on Sound Recorder when it appears in the list above the search box.

Press "Start Recording" then after as long as you like, "Stop Recording" and save the file (it only lets you save .wma format). Does the file contain any audio you were playing?



Gale

[pswinbank]

Hello Gale, <In the Mixer Toolbar. If you cannot see Mixer Toolbar, click View > Toolbars > Reset Toolbars, >
I coud see it, sorry. Got it!
Before I moved the left slider up to high, it looked like this:

Aud Mixer TB.PNG (58.44 KiB) Viewed 1845 times

Anyway, I tried to record something again. Still no good.
The wave form looked like this, virtually flat:

waveform.PNG (160.86 KiB) Viewed 1845 times

<Did you confirm or change everything else in my last post? >
Yes, I'm sure I did exactly what you said in your post of Sun Dec 19, 2010 1:54 am
The only thing I could not figure out was where the "Mixer Toolbar" was. I now know where that is.

<Does the file contain any audio you were playing? >
It certainly did.
Played the recording back to me just fine (Bach live broadcast today on BBC R3)


Peter

[Gale Andrews]

OK so the screenshot of the Audacity recording looks like a recording of the radio, though just too quiet. At that level, it would not move the green bars in "Sound". If you click Effect > Amplify in Audacity then hit ENTER the recording will be scaled up to as loud as possible and you should be able to hear it fine - though it might have some background noise because amplification will make the background louder too. Please try amplifying an Audacity recording from the radio to make sure it is recording what you intend.

If you go back to "Sound" in Windows, hit the "Recording" tab, right-click over "stereo mix" > Properties, then click the "Levels" tab, are you sure the slider is turned up to maximum (far right) ? And is the slider on the "stereo mix" tab of Realtek HD Audio Manager also on maximum?



Gale

[pswinbank]

Hello Gale, I think we might have lift-off .... !!
I've tried recording from BBC R3 and it worked!

<OK so the screenshot of the Audacity recording looks like a recording of the radio, though just too quiet.>
Good.

<If you click Effect > Amplify in Audacity then hit ENTER the recording will be scaled up to as loud
as possible and you should be able to hear it fine - ... >
Done. But when I hit Enter, nothing much seem to happen. Is that ok Gale?

<Please try amplifying an Audacity recording from the radio to make sure it is recording what you intend. >
Gale I'm not sure exactly what you mean here?
Are you just saying record something from the radio using Audacity?

<If you go back to "Sound" in Windows, hit the "Recording" tab, right-click over "stereo mix" > Properties,
then click the "Levels" tab, are you sure the slider is turned up to maximum (far right) ? >
No. the slider was set at the middle of the scale i.e. 60
I have now moved it to max. i.e. 100

<And is the slider on the "stereo mix" tab of Realtek HD Audio Manager also on maximum? >

No. It was set at the middle of the scale.

Smixvol.PNG (154.46 KiB) Viewed 1805 times

I've now set it to max.

< At that level, it would not move the green bars in "Sound".>
Yes, I can see the green bars in Sound/Playback moving!
I hope this screen shot shows that happening:

SoundGreenbars.PNG (60.23 KiB) Viewed 1806 times

Peter

[Gale Andrews]

The green bars that need to move in "Sound" for you to get a decent level recording are not only the ones for "Speakers" in the "Playback" tab but also the ones for "Stereo Mix" on the "Recording" tab. Stereo Mix is now turned up, so In the "Realtek" Control Panel, I would suggest clicking the "Speakers" tab and turning up the right-hand slider for "Main Volume" to as loud as it's comfortable to listen to.

Note that when you move the input level slider for stereo mix in "Sound", the input level slider for stereo mix in the Realtek control panel (and the input slider in Audacity when its recording device is "stereo mix") should all move to the same level - all three should be interlinked. If they are not, then it's not working correctly, but the stereo mix slider may be more likely to decide the level.

If you click Effect > Amplify in Audacity then hit ENTER, the waveform (if it was only very small as in your image) would become much taller and therefore much louder. If the recording in Audacity already has a fairly tall waveform, then Amplify would not make much difference.

When I said "Please try amplifying an Audacity recording from the radio to make sure it is recording what you intend", yes I meant record something from internet radio using Audacity.

It's also important to note that in Windows Vista and 7, every application that produces sound has its own volume control. If you right-click over the Speaker icon by the clock > Open Volume Mixer, and then play the internet radio, you will see a volume slider for the web browser has appeared. The volume slider for the web browser must be turned up as well as the main Speakers slider. Otherwise, the web radio will not be audible and so stereo mix will only record silence even if correctly configured. In other words you cannot turn the radio down because you want to work and then record it at a good level. To do that you have to plug headphones in and then not wear the headphones.



Gale