Need to record audio internally, not through the microphone

I've got something similar. I have an old project with video in it but we don't have any sourcefiles. I'd love to just record the screen and get the audio directly from the output to the speakers, not pick it up via a microphone placed near the speakers... Can we do this?

Jeff

Dave and Jeff,

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but you might just have to look at it laterally....

If it's a sound (of any sort) that lives on your computer, then there is an audio file for it somewhere. You don't have to "record" anything. Just locate that sound file and bring it into your project.

Hope that helps,

Bob

Hi Bob,

I'm actually recording a storyline project and want to capture the audio from the video, but not from the microphone built-in to my laptop. I want to record the audio the plays in the video but not pick up that audio playing through my computer speakers. Does that make sense?

I am in the same situation--I don't have the original file.  I need to be able to record the original file from audio that comes from the computer, not using the microphone.  Help!

If you are trying to grab the audio from a tradtional video file (mov, mp4, wmv, etc)...   Then open that file with a basic video editor and all of them (pretty much) will let you export/publish the sound only into a music file. (Vegas Home Studio, AVS4You video editor or video convertor, etc)

If you are trying to grab the audio from a published e-learning project.... They (Articulate or otherwise) typically capture sound in stand alone sound files (think MP3) and then pull them in when needed during playback.  Just locate that file(s) in the published package and drag them into where you need them.

If you are trying grab sound this is truly "buried" in a Flash file  (ie not linked to, but recorded in a SWF, FLV)... you would use a tool like AVS4You audio editor, MP3Grabber, Audacity, to catpure it out of the Flash and into a conventional sound file format.

In any case, you shouldn't have to record the sound from a microphone/speakers as it already exists as a file somewhere.  If it's already digitized on your computer somehow, don't even consider converting it multiple times (D>A>spl then back from spl >A >D). Instead just keep it in the digital world as outlined above.  Make sense?

Hope that helps,

Bob

Thanks Bob for helping out here! 

Tnx for suggesting the software that can capture audio. Still doesn't answer my question. Can I record the output send to the speakers with Replay?

There are a few specialty tools available that help to record stuff from your PC. However, you should be able to do this using a built-in Windows setting. It's a little hidden:

1) Right click the speaker icon in the taskbar and select Recording Devices.

2) Right click the empty space in the list of devices and select Show Disabled Devices.

3) A new item (if it wasn't already visible) should appear called Stereo Mix. Right click this and select Enable.

Now make sure you have an audio recording tool installed. Audacity should do the trick.

1) In your audio recording tool's settings (Preferences in Audacity) select your recording device input. Pick Stereo Mix.

2) Click the record button in Audacity, then play the file on the PC that you want to record from.

3) Stop the recording when you're done and edit to taste.

4) Export as the audio format of your choice.

Sounds good Steve, I'll play with that. The thing is though that we do not just want audio, we want to record something on the screen that has audio embedded. EG a course for which I don't have a sourcefile but does contain audio and perhaps even some video. Tricky right? I should have thought about it during the beta...

Jeff,

I'm sorry but I'm still not sure what you are asking about...    If you are using a screen capture tool like the one you mentioned, it records the audio along with the video right?  So you would have both.

If you wanted the audio WITHOUT the video, again simply extract it as I mentioned a few posts above; either from the source file(s) or from the newly captured stream (which is now a recorded video file with audio track).

If you want to MIX various audio and video tracks, don't do that in real time. Instead do the screen capture, then go back in with a an editor (audio or video depending on need) and create the mix you want.