# How do I record PC Audio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304 "2003-11-09T23:21:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/1 "2003-11-09T23:21:57Z")
Hey, is there freeware that allows me to record audio directly from my computer? I was thinking about getting a copy of the Badger/Mushroom Flash animation to play in my car sometime; yes, I know it’s rather :dubious:. I thought I could loop my sound card’s output directly to the line-in port, but I guess feedback would fry the system. Am I right? I want to record about 90 minutes of it looping and go play it somewhere. Sometimes I think people’s lives are too boring. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/2 "2003-11-09T23:37:52Z")
What kind of stereo equipment do you have? If you have a tape deck attached to a receiver, you can patch the line out to an input of the receiver and copy the sounds to tape and back to the computer through the line in. You could use most any sound software to create a continous loop. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/3 "2003-11-09T23:41:34Z")
That’s one of the problems, the only tape deck I can get my grubby little mitts on doesn’t have a line in. My _only_ option is to record audio is directly to the computer. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/4 "2003-11-09T23:50:30Z")
Oh, and I’m planning to burn to CD then transfer from CD to tape. Another option is to use my MP3 player and a car conversion kit. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/5 "2003-11-10T00:52:12Z")
[Audio MP3/WMA Recorder](http://audio.newfreeware.com/programs/1205/) sounds like what you’re looking for. It can record anything coming from your computer’s soundcard. Despite the name, it can also capture to WAV. It’s freeware for Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/6 "2003-11-10T01:16:02Z")
[Wiggles fingers together] Ex-celllent. Thanks **neutron star**! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/7 "2003-11-10T01:24:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*It’s freeware for Windows. \*\* Apparently not, according to the user feedback at the bottom of the linked page. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/8 "2003-11-10T01:47:41Z")
If you don’t have a recorder program, get Audacity. It IS free, and will do all that you need. Link your line in to your line out, and twiddle the mixer settings to get things right. You will need a sound card capable of full duplex, but most cards are these days. You can get Audacity here: > **[Audacity](https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/)** > > Download Audacity for free. A free multi-track audio editor and recorder. Audacity is no longer at SourceForge. Audacity can be downloaded via AudacityTeam website instead: http://www.audacityteam.org/download/ > > > Audacity is a free, easy-to-use,... ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-record-pc-audio/212304/9 "2003-11-10T01:53:09Z")
Assuming you’re running Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP, and depending on your sound card, there’s often a way you can do this with no extra hardware required (i.e., you don’t have to wire your line-out port into your line-in port). Go into the Windows mixer (double-clicking on the speaker icon in the system tray is the fastest way to open this up, or you can find it called **Volume Control** somewhere under **Accessories** in the **Start** … **Programs** menu), choose **Options** … **Properties** , select **Adjust volume for** … **Recording** instead of **Playback** , and see if there’s a selection for **Stereo Mixer** , or **Stereo Mix** , or **Mixer** , or **Wave Out** , or anything along those lines – something that might indicate your computer’s regular sound output. Some sound cards don’t have any of these options under the mixer’s **Recording** controls, but a lot of them do – my laptop’s “Conexant AC-Link Audio” device has **Stereo Mixer** , and my third desktop’s AC97 onboard sound device has **Stereo Mix**. Anyway, so make sure that that, at least, has its box checked, and that **Adjust volume for** is set to **Recording** , and then click OK. Your mixer’s playback controls will disappear and be replaced by controls for the recording devices, with a **Select** checkbox under each device. Usually the recording device selected is the **Microphone** or **Line In** device. So you’ll want to check the box for **Stereo Mixer** or whatever your sound card calls it, and then fire up your favorite recording software (if you want to record to an ordinary .WAV file, you can use the built-in Windows program **Sound Recorder** , which is somewhere under **Accessories** all versions of Windows, I believe – **Accessories** … **Entertainment** in WinXP) and start recording, then start playing your flash animation or anything else you want to record. Obviously, you should avoid causing error beeps or any other noises while the recording is going on, because this method will record _every_ sound that your computer plays. Good luck … hopefully that will do the job. If I’ve forgotten anything in the above description, or made any errors, I’m sure others will correct me. And hopefully the bold coding is all done properly as well… we shall see.