Windows 10: need stereo mix or other means of laptop audio recording

need stereo mix or other means of laptop audio recording

:)

 

Stereo mix showing but not showing audio

A potential solution for those who use digital outputs to a separate sound system for your sounds (rather than speakers or headphones), and have tried all the normal suggestions when Stereo Mix shows up on the recording tab, but shows no audio, and programs
such as Audacity won't record a signal.

I use digital optical out from my sound card (Realtek High Definition Audio) to my sound system. There are therefore no speakers connected, and no speakers show in the sound settings. And no audio showing in Stereo Mix.

However, connecting headphones instantly solves the problem - stereo mix shows audio, programs like Audacity can record again (plugging headphones in the headphones jack makes no difference to the digital optical output signal = does not mute it).

I would be really interested to know why Stereo Mix will not show audio if there are no speakers or headphones connected.

 

Stereo Mix

Hi. I have a dell computer. When I try to record audio output using, say, audacity, using stereo mix, it records an overly loud background noise, which isn't present (or at least must be greatly exaggerated) in the original. I have the same issue if I instead
use Microsoft powerpoint's screen recorder to record audio from a browser.

However, if I do the same with windows game screen recorder, there is no issue - the recorded audio sounds just like what I hear.

What's going on with the stereo mix?? How can I configure it to not have this background noise (which must be possible because it is not present on the windows game recorder)?

Both windows game recorder and audacity are using stereo mix, and I can see no discernible difference in the way they are capturing the audio - but there must be one since I can hear it.

Interestingly, if I turn the stereo mix level down to zero and now record (using stereo mix) on audacity, it still records the audio at nonzero volume (albeit faint),
together with the background noise. Is this supposed to happen?

Thanks for your replies.

 

Recently updated to Windows 10; Stereo Mix not recording audio

This should work if you have done the following:

• In Control Panel > Sound > Recording, right click Stereo Mix and select Enable
  
• You may also need to right click Stereo Mix again and select Set as Default Device
  

Stereo Mix should now appear as an option in any recording program
such as Audacity:





There are many more factors that can still disable Stereo Mix.
Some of them are:

• In Control Panel > Sound > Playback, right click speakers, select
  Properties, and if you have a Level tab, then
  unmute sound and microphone adjust adjust the sound level to the highest
  
• The driver of the sound card may not be the latest version
  
• Computer sound must go through the sound card.
  Using HDMI to output video and audio will bypass the sound card.
  Sometimes the only way to force it, is to connect any kind of speaker.
  
• The microphone may need to be disabled
  
• Volume level of the sound card should be set to 100%
  
• The default playback device may need to be set to Digital Output
  
• A headset plugged-in might disable Stereo Mix
  
• If the sound card has the property of Acoustic Echo Cancellation, it should
  be set to Off
  
• Some unlisted fixes may be found in the article
  Fix: Stereo Mix not Working.