September 22, 2007

Recording Internet Audio- getting the real free song!

Sometimes there is that song you like so much but you you can't find it on itunes, napster or any other music site. Maybe you just dont want to pay for it.

Only one option left. Download it direct from the internet from sites like youtube or imeem. But just one problem. There is no download function on any of these sites, you can only watch and listen.

So how can one get this cool song onto an mp3 player for a bus ride to work?

Internet reocrding.

A neat idea but most of the software out there claiming to do just that comes with a lot of unwanted extras like your random trojan or malware. Or they dont actually do internet recording but record from your microphone, which is lame since any sound you make will be on the recording so unless your room is a sound booth forget about it.

The good internet rocorders require you to pay. Well that just defeats the purpose doesn't it. Even if you think you are being smart and you instal the trial version planning to just use it once and dump it you are in for a rude awakening. When you play you cool song after the 'free' trial recorder has done its wonderful work you will become aware of a mechanical voice saying the company logo every 30 seconds or so.

So what to do.

NHC Wavepad is the answer to your problems.

Downlaod this software for free and start recording in two minutes (or you can buy the Master version for more functions). The package comes with other cool software like a CD Burner and Converter (unless you need tem just untick the boxes during installation and instal wavepad only)

When you start Wavepad. Click on the 'record' button. On the window that comes up select 'stereo' then ok. On the new window that comes up on the 'input' side select 'stereo' from the drop down menu.

Then lower the input volume to between 1/4 and 1/6 of the way. Once this is set click the record button.

Go to the website and play the cool song. You will notice the bars on the recorder start to move as soon as the music starts. The bars stop moving when the music stops. This is because the recorder is recording directly from the sound card and any noises you make in the room are not recorded. So what you get is crisp digital quality recording.

The reason for lowering the input volume is to make sure the bars of the recorder are not saturated. They should flactuate with the sounds. If they are constantly saturated (red to the end and no movement) then the recording will have a scratching sound. Any saturation means a scratching sound.

You can also help the recorder by lowering the volume of the song on the website. This makes sure the bars flactuate without ever saturating.

Once you got the volume adjusted right, restart the song and record to the end. When finished click 'stop' . Now the recording is shown to you in wave form, you can edit, crop out the unwanted parts. The menu has a rich selection of option and things you can do with your recording.

You can save the recording in wav, mp3, mp4(ipod), wma and a whole lot of other formats with varying degrees of sophistication.

Now that is what I call a free song.

Visit NCH and see their amazing audio and internet video capture and video converter software

1 comment:

Milton Ramirez said...

Thanks for the heads up man! But I've came here to check any advance on NEO development, I've read the FAQ's but I couldn't get answer to my question. Lately I am facinated of how SU and I would love to integrate it to our NEO, unfortunatelly when you fletch post from 'Recent Posts' the link for SU lags and stays in the older page. Any suggestions?