Recording Off the Web and Elsewhere with Audacity

[solarblast]

I thought I would be able to record while playing or recording RadioShark (hardware radio that acts like Tivo for radio), by playing some audio on winamp, or an audio program posted on the web. It doesn't seem to work. I've tried Line In, Aux and Stereo Mix. All I get is a straight line. Does it in fact record from these sources? What do I need to do? I just start playing a source, then press the record button (red) on Aud. Each time I start again, it produces a new track with a straight line. The level controls on Aud seem OK on Aud. Nothing is muted. I can hear sound through the speakers.

[Ai Haibara]

Call up the Master Volume dialog (probably from the speaker icon in the tray). Go to Options > Properties. In the "Adjust volume for" section, tick "Recording" and press OK.

On the Recording Control sliders, is the source you're wanting to record from checked? (there should be a check in the "Select" box, I believe).

[solarblast]

The volumes for each source looks OK to me. I'm not sure what the speaker source is. I would guess just the choice Volume.

I go to the "master" and select the Audio tab, then Volume under Playback. it give me the panels for Volume Control, Wave, etc. The are all OK, and not muted. If I go to Playback properties, all but sw swsyn and cd are checked. Recording properties are all but Stereo Mix and Aux.

[solarblast]

Well, I sort of screwed the above up, but did try several selections for the Sound Recording. Aux, Line, Microphone. None worked.

I just popped a CD in and played it. I used recording CD. I set CD and then Line In on the Audacity pull down menu. Zippo from Audacity. Just a straight line in both cases. I could see some activity in the LR window above the speaker icon, next to the >>|

[gsh]

Selecting "Stereo Mix" on the recording properties of the master volume dialog works for me - anything played on the pc can be recorded with Audacity or Sound Recorder. This is using onboard sound. Check that audacity is using the same source as your soundcard for recording and that the volume slider checked for recording is not set too low or muted.

[solarblast]

Ah, a miracle has occurred. Stereo Mix did the trick. I am able to record the CD as it plays. Now for trying it off WMP, and other sources. Thanks. What is stereo mix anyway? Any source, and combinations of sources? In the latter case, a mix of all sources that may be playing? Apparently, speakers are not aux, line in, or anything else, but are included in stereo mix.

RadioShark works, as does a Winamp playing off the net. Wonderful.

[Ai Haibara]

I think it's just a catch-all (as is Mono Mix) for all of the internal sources (not external like CD, Line In, etc.)

Sorry for not responding earlier - I wasn't home.