How to record from an external source

[cyriousn]

I recently bought a hp envy 17" and I cant figure out how to record onto this laptop.  I have to jacks on the left side, one with an icon of a headphones, the other with an icon of a headset.  I want to be able to take input a stereo jack to record into one of these and record into a program like Audacity.  Under device manager it says I have an ATI High Def Audio Device.  How do I record from an external source?  Thanks.

[keifeelsgood]

I think your model is similar to mine, in regards to input/output jacks for the sound card. The left hand side jacks closest to the screen should be  "mic in" and "line in" jack. Once line in from a line out source is plugged in, the sound card automatically detects whether it is a microphone or a line in source. You can then choose that input from the IDT Mixer and in a Digital Audio Recording  program such as Audacity.

BTW you should have 2 options to record from, just the line in [or mic in if you plug in a mic], or from the "Stereo Mix". The latter will record "all" sound passing through the sound card to the output. Where as chosing "line in" only, records from the line in jack. The former is usfull if e.g. you want to record karaoke, where you have a music track playing in say media player, and a microphone plugged in the mic/line in jack. Chosing the Stereo Mix as the recroding source will record playback from media player and any sound from the mic in recorded to a single track in Audacity e.g.

Did this help?

[fritz137]

Does one have to use a dual band audio jack to get input into the HP Envy 17, or can one use a common connector?  I have the same problem.

[toolchic]

ok so what if I don't have a mic and i'm trying to use the one that's installed already how do I record? I see no buttons for recording

[keifeelsgood]

@toolchic, first make sure that in the IDT HD Sound properties [right click the IDT ICON near the clock, which says "Controls IDT Audio Settings" on mouse over the icon], and choose "Open Audio control panel".

Next choose "Recording > Settings". Here choose the input you want to record with. In your case choose "Integrated Microphone Array" on the top left. Click "Settings" just bellow, slide the bar to "10db boost" on the right, and slide the recording level bar about midway up [at the bottom of the window where all the volume controls for all recording devices are].

While you/re there, it's a good idea to mute the "External mic", and mute any other recording device that you do not need. Next, click the "Processing" tab below the settings tab, and choose "Reduce noise". Leave all the others unchecked. for these will produce a not so nice sound. This helps to eliminate fan noise and other background noise in your recording.

Now when you open your preferred digital audio program e.g.. Audacity [it's free and pretty easy to use, see link below], you can choose the INTEGRATED MIC ARRAY in the recording options. Choose that and then "arm" the track for recording [Usually an icon with R in the recording controls] Next click "record" to begin recording. Of course these steps depend on the digital audio recording program you're using.

If you don't have a dedicated digital audio recording program, and if you have windows 7 or vista, you can record long sessions with the default Microsoft recording program [this program is useless in XP, for it only records for like a minute or so, maximum!. A dedicated program such as Audacity records depending on how much hard drive disk space, or close to that.

@fritz, in essence, input jacks of most current notebooks, external computer mics are mono, but they use a  stereo mini jack [or 3 band, if I understood you correctly]. These are the same as regular earphone jacks. One band is signal, one is earth, and the other is +5 Volts to drive the condenser [these are known as "condenser mics"]. But if you use a dedicated studio type recording mic, then you need a dedicated preamp, and if it is a condenser as apposed to a dynamic mic, the preamp needs to supply what's known as "phantom power" [typically 45v] through the input jack where the mic is plugged into.

However, if you record from the mic in/line in jack of a line out of say a mic preamp, channel mixer deck, CD/DVD/TV etc., then this has to be a stereo mini jack [has 3 bands]. Special cables with 2 [stereo] RCA jacks to mini jack are the ones to use. That is if the line out connector of your recording course is RCA [your typical TV/CD//DVD audio / video out or in are RCA connectors e.g..].

Did this help?

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

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