Want to convert some of those old cassette tapes to digital MP3s? Want to use voice dictation software? Want to record some audio from a website that streams music? Want to use your PC as a makeshift karaoke machine? Getting Windows to record all those sounds isn’t always so easy or straightforward.
Windows allow more than one audio device, a “feature” that usually makes troubleshooting audio problems needlessly complicated. This is particularly true when recording sound, given that Windows can only record from one source at a time. Far cry 3 play free.
A single audio device may have two or three audio inputs: an analog (mono) microphone input, an analog stereo “Line-In” or auxiliary input, and sometimes a digital S/PDIF input. Also, special devices, like voice dictation headsets and TV tuner cards, have their own inputs.
Sound Inputs in Windows
All the inputs for all your audio devices are listed in Control Panel ➝ Sound ➝ Recording tab.
How To Get Stereo Mix To Work On Windows 10To choose the default audio source, highlight the device you want to use and click Set Default. Most applications will automatically use the default device to record sound, but some (particularly voice-dictation software) require that you choose a source separately in the application itself. If you speak to your mic, the mic level should rise real time:
If you select the microphone and click on Properties, you’ll be able to adjust quite a few settings. On the General tab, you get some basic information about the device and you can choose to disable it here if you like. The more interesting feature is on the Listen tab.
This is a cool feature whereby you can play the sound that is being recorded by your microphone directly to your speakers. So as you talk into the microphone, the sound will be played in real time to your speakers. Obviously, this will work much better if you are using headphones, so that the sound from the speakers doesn’t feed back into the microphone.
Check the Listen to this device box and select the device you want to play the audio back through. By default, it’s set to your default playback device, which will normally be your headphones or speakers. If you have multiple playback devices, you can choose from the dropdown list. Click the Apply button and any sound picked up by your mic should play through your speakers in real time.
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On the Levels tab, you can adjust the sensitivity of the microphone depending on your needs. On the Advanced tab, you can change the default format for the audio. By default, it’s set to 1 channel, 16 bit and 44100 Hz, which is CD quality. There are many other options, including DVD quality, which you can use if you have a high-quality microphone.
If you go back to the Recording tab, select Microphone and click on Configure, the Speech Recognition dialog will appear. Here you can setup voice control for Windows, train the computer to understand your voice better and setup your microphone properly for speech recognition.
Lastly, back on the Recording tab, you may notice an option called Stereo Mix. If you don’t have this option, it means your sound card doesn’t support the feature.
So what does it do? Basically, it lets you record any sound that is playing on your computer. For example, if you are watching a YouTube video on your computer, how would you record the audio? You could try to place a microphone next to your speakers, but that’s not an ideal way to record that audio. Stereo Mix will let you open a sound recording program on your computer, choose Stereo Mix as the input and it’ll record whatever sound comes out of your computer.
If you use the default Sound Recorder or Voice Recorder (Windows 10) apps, they will automatically record from Stereo Mix as long as you disable the microphone first. If you’re using a program like Audacity, just change the sound input to Stereo Mix. Using this input, you can record music playing on your computer, audio from a video playing on your computer, or any other sound from your PC.
Hopefully, this gives you a good overview of the different audio inputs in Windows and how you can use them to record the audio you need. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!
I recently bought a Dell Inspiron running Windows 8 which has a Conextant SmartAudioHD sound card. I wanted to record some audio off the sound card, and realized that this sound card does not allow Stereo Mix to be enabled, so recording software like Audacity has nothing to record from. I did some research, and I found some examples of Toshiba users modifying driver code in order to enable Stereo Mix. However, I was unable to find anything Dell or Windows 8 specific.
I was hoping someone might be able to give me some ideas on how to enable the Stereo Mix on a Dell Inspiron PC running Windows 8.
How To Get Stereo Mix To Work With Your Mic
Thanks for helping!
Dell Inspiron
Windows 8
Conexant SmartAudio HD v8.54.40.0
This question already has an answer here:
I'm trying to get stereo mix with Windows 7 Professional on an HP G-series notebook. I right-click the volume icon -> Recording devices -> Check show disabled devices, but nothing new comes up. My sound-card is a Conexant high definition smart audio 221. I've tried many drivers but none seem to do the trick. Is there a way to get it on here? If not, are there any sound-cards that are known to have stereo mix support?
studiohack♦
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AnthonyAnthony
marked as duplicate by Kevin Panko, Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Excellll, Moses, Lance RobertsMay 15 '14 at 15:22
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
2 Answers
If the Sound driver does not allow for it, there is nothing you can do other than try other drivers, which you have done.
Since it is a laptop, your only choice would be some sort of USB sound device, unless it has some sort of card slot available.
MoabMoab
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Not sure what you're asking for. If you want to change the volume of each speaker independently, then go to Control Panel>Sound>Speakers>Properties>Levels>Balance
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Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged windows-7audiosound-cardstereo or ask your own question.
Hello, I'm trying to use Stereo Mix in Skype as my microphone so people can hear the audio of my computer but I can't get it to work at all. I've looked up every tutorial and help topic I can find on this, followed their advice perfectly and still nothing seems to work. I don't know what I'm doing wrong everything technically implies it should work but it doesn't, please help.
MSI Laptop 6E62 Apache Pro
Windows 10 Home
64 bit OS
i7-6700 2.60Ghz
16.0 gb
Also so people don't ask I have already done these things:
-I have Stereo Mix enabled as 'Default Device' and 'Default Communication Device' under 'Speakers-Recording'
-I have the right speakers set as 'Default Device and Communication' under 'Speakers-Playback'
-I tried setting every recording and playback device to the same same sample rate '16 bit, 48' that didn't work.
-I can see the volume bar moving next to 'Stereo Mix' so it is picking up my computer's audio.
-I can also see the volume bar moving in Skype 'Options-Audio Settings-Microphone-Stereo Mix' so it's picking it up in Skype too. And yes I have 'Stereo Mix' selected as my Microphone, and my default 'Speakers' as the playback.
-I can even record audio from my computer in Audacity using Stereo Mix and it works perfectly fine.
-However despite all that, when go to make a Skype call, nobody can hear anything on the other end. I've tried making a Test Call and I've tried calling direct phone numbers and other Skype numbers, none of them can hear my pc's Stereo Mix.
-Also when I make a test call, it doesn't pick up anything at all, not even silence. It just skips to the recording saying 'If you hear this message etc etc' and doesn't play anything back.
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