# Recording PC audio w/o mic **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857 "2013-01-31T00:20:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/1 "2013-01-31T00:20:32Z")
Alright I am looking for a free way to record a long piece of audio from my pc. I do not want to use a mic, and I do not have a cable to connect input/outputs, and I am on win7. I have tried quite a few programs but the only one which could do this had a 3 minute limit and a hefty price. I tried audacity among many other programs and found that none worked, so I turn to you. Has anyone successfully done this, and if so what program did you use? Edit: to clarify, I want to be able to listen to a podcast and record 30 mins of it, or record bits of audio from a game/skype without the use of a microphone to the speaker (only examples). ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/2 "2013-01-31T00:49:35Z")
I do believe winamp has an record to file writer plugin. Basically, it plays the audio into a file, rather than to your speakers. You might want to do a web search for screen capture apps, as those do kind of the same thing you’re talking about, but for video and audio together. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/3 "2013-01-31T00:52:55Z")
> [@DaveBfd](#): > > Alright I am looking for a free way to record a long piece of audio from my pc. > > I do not want to use a mic, and I do not have a cable to connect input/outputs, and I am on win7. > > I have tried quite a few programs but the only one which could do this had a 3 minute limit and a hefty price. I tried audacity among many other programs and found that none worked, so I turn to you. > > Has anyone successfully done this, and if so what program did you use? > > Edit: to clarify, I want to be able to listen to a podcast and record 30 mins of it, or record bits of audio from a game/skype without the use of a microphone to the speaker (only examples). Fraps can grab AVI’s of anything on screen and related computer audio > **[Fraps Support - FAQ](https://fraps.com/faq.php)** > > Need help with Fraps? Answers to common questions! AoA Audio Extractor to strip audio from avi to mp3 [http://www.majorgeeks.com/AoA\_Audio\_Extractor\_d5496.html](http://www.majorgeeks.com/AoA_Audio_Extractor_d5496.html) ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/4 "2013-01-31T01:53:26Z")
I get emails about freeware all of the time and [this](http://www.freshdevices.com/36696/details-hanso-recorder.html) arrived today and looks like what you want but I can’t be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/5 "2013-01-31T02:01:07Z")
Check to see if your computer has a [“wave out” or “stereo mix” recording device](http://stream-recorder.com/forum/enable-stereo-mix-wave-out-mix-u-t8109.html). If it does, you can select that as a virtual microphone and any program (like Audacity) can record from it for no additional cost or software downloads. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/6 "2013-01-31T02:23:45Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Check to see if your computer has a [“wave out” or “stereo mix” recording device](http://stream-recorder.com/forum/enable-stereo-mix-wave-out-mix-u-t8109.html). If it does, you can select that as a virtual microphone and any program (like Audacity) can record from it for no additional cost or software downloads. I’m not sure, but anything that can record streaming audio probably either installs itself as a virtual recording device or manages to behave as one at least. If you go to the link though, on the right is a list of categories so there might be another a/v category that will have something more apropos. ---
**Author:** ![slitterst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@slitterst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slitterst)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/7 "2013-01-31T20:25:23Z")
I would encourage you to keep fiddling around with Audacity. I have used it repeatedly to record music from both DVDs and YouTube on my PC. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/8 "2013-01-31T20:55:21Z")
i agree Audacity will work. you need to select the correct inputs there and in your sound card or on-board audio. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/9 "2013-01-31T20:56:07Z")
> [@slitterst](#): > > I would encourage you to keep fiddling around with Audacity. I have used it repeatedly to record music from both DVDs and YouTube on my PC. I believe it’s as simple as changing the recording source from ‘mic’ to ‘stereo mix’ in the dropdown box in the middle of the toolbar, then Audacity should be recording whatever sound is playing on the computer. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/10 "2013-01-31T23:36:55Z")
> [@DaveBfd](#): > > Edit: to clarify, I want to be able to listen to a podcast and record 30 mins of it, or record bits of audio from a game/skype without the use of a microphone to the speaker (only examples). FRAPS will do the game recording, but it won’t record the audio without recording the video as well-- not sure if that’s what you want. It also costs a little bit of scratch. Beyond that, as other people have noted, this is usually a feature in your sound card’s driver, you just need to find out what it’s called and turn it on. ---
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/11 "2013-02-01T02:47:49Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I believe it’s as simple as changing the recording source from ‘mic’ to ‘stereo mix’ in the dropdown box in the middle of the toolbar, then Audacity should be recording whatever sound is playing on the computer. The pull downs for audacity do not have any viable options, as I do not have stereo mix (which is all I keep reading about). My computer is about a year old, here is what I get: [![](https://i.imgur.com/eSvPEZY.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/eSvPEZY.png) Also, fraps doesn’t work because it keeps crashing, and all other programs listed do not work either. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/12 "2013-02-01T03:34:41Z")
start -\> control panel -\> hardware and sound -\> sound (manage audio devices) -\> recording -\> stereo mix ---
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/13 "2013-02-01T03:38:38Z")
Am I crazy or did you not look at my attached image? ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/14 "2013-02-01T04:44:20Z")
Your screenshots show the audio devices named as “High Definition Audio Device”, which indicates you may be using the generic HD Audio driver. In any case, I would install the latest audio driver from the motherboard/system/sound card manufacturer’s website and then check if you have a Stereo Mix option, especially if you have a Realtek audio chipset. ---
**Author:** ![DaveBfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DaveBfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveBfd)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recording-pc-audio-w-o-mic/648857/15 "2013-02-01T16:40:33Z")
Problem solved thank you Cleo 🙂