Recording sounds on your PC may not be as straightforward
as you imagine. The Windows Sound Recorder can, with
a bit of effort, record audio from a microphone, some
other input device or Internet streaming radio. You can
record from CD using RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.
You may then need to use yet some other program to convert
between audio formats and you may run into a dead-end
when trying to record both sides of a Skype conversation.
| In fact, with a bit of effort, and luck on your
side, you may be able to record a Skype conversation
using the good old Windows Sound Recorder. To do
this you need to uncheck the option to ‘Let
Skype adjust my sound device’ setting
(In Skype, select Tools, Options, Sound
Devices). Then in the
Windows Volume Control, make sure that the Microphone
Mute checkbox is unchecked. In the recording
control, select ‘Wave Out Mix’ or ‘Stereo
Mix’ or similar (the name varies).
Now, make that Skype call and see if you can record.
We are grateful to the developer of the i-Sound Recorder
for providing this useful tip. |
Abyssmedia’s
i-Sound WMA MP3 Recorder cuts through this mess of applications
and formats. It provides the ability to record any audio
from your computer, including Skype, and convert to and
from the MP3, OGG, WMA, APE and WAV formats. It can also
re-record (legally, it says) protected multimedia formats
such as M4P, WMA and AAC and save the recordings as MP3.
This simple front end is your interface to a powerful suite
of audio recording and conversion tools
The
interface of i-Sound is small and neat. To use it, you
just load the program, set the recording volume by monitoring
the animated sound-level bars and click the Record button.
If you need to make adjustments to the recording format
or the sound quality (for example, by selecting a sample
rate or switching between mono and stereo), this can
be done in a popup dialog box. You can also set other
options such as the destination file folder for recordings
and whether or not the i-Sound application should always
stay on top of other windows.
There
is a ‘VOX’ (Voice Activation System) feature
which can automatically detect silences in tracks or
conversations and trim out the pauses. An auto-splitter
option lets you create timed tracks, with new audio files
being created at pre-set intervals. A scheduler lets
you make recordings at specific times or regular intervals
- great if you want to record every broadcast of your
favourite Internet radio show.
You can set up all kinds of sound and format options using
the Recorder's Settings panel
Overall,
this is a handy utility. While it does duplicate some
features of programs which you already have, it not only
simplifies many recording operations but also has useful
format conversion capabilities.
If
Skype recording is your principal requirement, you may
also want to consider Pamela -
a dedicated Skype recorder which has extra tricks such
as auto-detection of Skype conversations and a Skype ‘voicemail’ auto-answer
tool. It’s worth also pointing out that Pamela
does not require the special audio configuration which
I mentioned earlier. But if you have more wide-ranging
recording and conversion needs, then the i-Sound recorder
is a good all-round solution.
Huw Collingbourne
January 2006 |
