Recording BBC Radio programmes

pswinbank · Post by **pswinbank** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 8:52 am

Gale, thank you so much for this detailed advice.
I can't imagine how much time it will have saved me if I'd had to read through all the Audacity documentation!

I'll go through it all carefully and report back.
It may be after the Christmas break now.
I hope that is ok with you.

Needless to say, I'm delighted with the progress I've been able to make with your and Steve's support.

Best wishes, Peter

pswinbank · Post by **pswinbank** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 5:44 pm

Hello Gale, < ... 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. >

Do you mean I should set this to max. every time I wish to make a recording?

<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. >

Yes, they do. All three in sync. Good.

<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. >
Thanks for confirming that.

<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.>
Oh boy! My brain is overheating again I think .....

But I do understand what you are saying here Gale.
It may be of interest to note that when I turn the volume thumbwheel on my Aspire 8943G laptop, the left and
right sliders move together in sync. , but not at the same level.
Not the slider in the middle (System Sounds) of course.

Just one more question please.
My "wave form" looks like like this:

: wave2812.PNG (125.3 KiB) Viewed 1223 times

Is that a normal "reading"?
When I was using Windows XP it was much more pronounced/dramatic.

Thanks to the support and advice of you and Steve, I can at last record BBC radio broadcasts of my choice.
To say I'm relieved is an understatement!

I'm now going to try to save the files I record in mp3 format.
This will enable me to copy the files from my laptop to my Creative MP3 player.

Peter

Post by **steve** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 7:00 pm

pswinbank wrote:My "wave form" looks like like this:
....
Is that a normal "reading"?

It looks a little bit low, but should be close enough if you use the "Amplify" effect after the recording is finished.
Generally when recording the peak target level would be about half the track height. The peaks here are just a bit lower than that, so it's pretty close.

Post by **billw58** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:31 pm

steve wrote: The peaks here are just a bit lower than that, so it's pretty close.

Actually they're quite a bit lower than that - the user has vertically-zoomed the tracks. The peaks are barely hitting 0.25.

-- Bill

Post by **steve** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 9:34 pm

billw58 wrote:the user has vertically-zoomed the tracks.

Oops, missed that. In that case the level is definitely a bit on the low side, but although lower than the optimum will probably still be acceptable after Amplification.

Gale Andrews · Post by **Gale Andrews** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:39 am

pswinbank wrote:Hello Gale, < ... 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. >

Do you mean I should set this to max. every time I wish to make a recording?

Looks like you have set it to max from your last screenshot, but you still have what I would regard as an inadequate level unless that particular part of the music was very quiet anyway. Classical music does have a very wide dynamic range (difference between quietest and loudest) so you may need to experiment a bit if you want to choose optimal levels for output (Speakers and web browser) and input that will work in most cases.

Gale

pswinbank · Post by **pswinbank** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:49 pm

Steve, thanks for this. Noted.
Particularly " ...close enough if you use the "Amplify" effect after the recording is finished."
So far the audible playback seems fine, to my ear!
I guess it may change when I export the recording to an MP3 file.
I'll you and the others know in due course.

Peter

steve wrote:
pswinbank wrote:My "wave form" looks like like this:
....
Is that a normal "reading"?
It looks a little bit low, but should be close enough if you use the "Amplify" effect after the recording is finished.
Generally when recording the peak target level would be about half the track height. The peaks here are just a bit lower than that, so it's pretty close.

pswinbank · Post by **pswinbank** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:53 pm

Bill, thanks for your input here. Noted, even though its all a bit to technical for me I'm afraid!
But if I have any playback level problems this could be very useful to know and have a look at again.

Peter

billw58 wrote:
steve wrote: The peaks here are just a bit lower than that, so it's pretty close.
Actually they're quite a bit lower than that - the user has vertically-zoomed the tracks. The peaks are barely hitting 0.25.

-- Bill

pswinbank · Post by **pswinbank** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:58 pm

Hello Gale, so I need to check the slider is set to max every time I record, right? That's not a problem for me (... now!)

<unless that particular part of the music was very quiet anyway. >
I can't remember exactly.
But I think it was a relatively quiet piece - a piano I think.

I'll start to document the settings you and Steve have helped me sort out now I think.
At the same time I'll try to export the files I've recorded to MP3 format.

Thanks, Peter

Gale Andrews wrote:
pswinbank wrote:Hello Gale, < ... 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. >

Do you mean I should set this to max. every time I wish to make a recording?
Looks like you have set it to max from your last screenshot, but you still have what I would regard as an inadequate level unless that particular part of the music was very quiet anyway. Classical music does have a very wide dynamic range (difference between quietest and loudest) so you may need to experiment a bit if you want to choose optimal levels for output (Speakers and web browser) and input that will work in most cases.

Gale

pswinbank · Post by **pswinbank** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:06 pm

Gale, earlier Bill said:
"Report this postReply with quoteRe: Recording BBC Radio programmes
by billw58 » Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:31 pm

steve wrote:
The peaks here are just a bit lower than that, so it's pretty close.

Actually they're quite a bit lower than that - the user has vertically-zoomed the tracks. The peaks are barely hitting 0.25.

-- Billbillw58
Forum Staff "

I know you agree with that.
Is this 'wave profile' (sorry I don't know the technical term!) better:

: bettawave.PNG (165.86 KiB) Viewed 1168 times

Anyway, things seem to be going very well.
My copy of Audacity is red-hot at the moment.
I'm listening to and recording as much as I can of the BBC R3 "The Genius of Mozart" programme.
Every note he ever wrote is being broadcast from 1 January to 12 January, as you probably know.
I think I'm in heaven

I've played back the recordings. Fine. Even in CineSurround 5.1 courtesey of Realtek on my laptop.

I've exported the .aud files to .mp3 and transferred to my Creative Zen MP3 player. Even better sound!
I'm delighted.

Thanks again to you, Steve and Bill .

Peter