How to Record Sound on a Computer

This is an article on how to use a Windows computer to record audio from the device and external sounds. You can use a free app like Audacity to capture audio coming from your computer, such as audio from your favorite music and video apps. If you want to record using your computer’s microphone, you can use the Voice Recorder application available on all versions of Windows. If you want to do advanced recording with multiple songs (for example, for your band or music project), learn how to record songs with Audacity.

Table of Contents

Capture audio from your computer with Audacity

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Download and install Audacity. This is a free program that helps you record and edit audio on your computer, including music from your favorite movie and video players. ^{[1] X Research Resources} To download Audacity, you would go to https://www.audacityteam.org/download/ using your computer’s web browser and do the following:

Click Audacity for Windows (Audacity for Windows)
Click on the link Audacity 2.3.2 installer to download the installation file.
Double-click the installation file.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install Audacity.

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Open Audacity. If Audacity doesn’t open automatically, you will open Start

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, type audacity and click Audacity in the search results.

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Click the main sound selection box. This is the section in the upper left corner of Audacity and usually has the default selection of MME . A selection list will appear here.

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Select Windows WASAPI . With this selection, Audacity will capture audio from other applications, such as music or video playback applications.

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Click the input audio selection box. This option is next to the microphone icon, just to the right of the “Windows WASAPI” box.

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Click Speakers (loopback) . This is an option that ensures Audacity will capture the sound coming from your computer’s speakers without capturing external sounds (such as typing sounds).

If the audio you’re hearing is playing through headphones, click Headphones (loopback) .

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Disable Software Playthrough. To ensure that the recording is free of distortion and howling, you need to take the following steps: ^{[2] X Research Source}

Click the Transport menu.
Click Transport Options .
Uncheck “Software Playthrough” (if applicable). If you don’t see a check mark here, you don’t need to do any more.

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Click the red circle to start recording. This circle displays in the upper-left corner of the Audacity window. From now on, the Audacity program will start recording the sound coming from the application on your computer.

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Play the sound you want to record. It’s best to start after pressing the record button, as you can always cut off the beginning of the recording so that there are no unnecessary parts left.

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Click the Stop button

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to stop recording. This is the button near the top left corner of the Audacity window.

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Switch the “main audio” selection to MME . This selection box is near the top left corner of the application and is showing “Windows WASAPI”. After you perform the operation, the program will change the selection of the output sound and the input sound so that you can play the recorded audio clip.

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Click Play to listen to the recording. Knot

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green color displayed at the top of the Audacity window. The recording will play through the computer’s speakers or the computer’s headset.

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Save the recording. Save the file in the following way:

Click the File menu in the upper-left corner of the window.
Select Export .
Click Export as MP3 or other format in the menu.
Select the save folder.
Enter a filename in the “File name” field.
Click Save .
Click OK when asked.

Capture external audio with Windows Voice Recorder

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Try the microphone. This method just guides you to perform a simple recording of a clip using the microphone and Windows Voice Recorder. If you want to do advanced recording with multiple passages (such as for your band or music project), learn how to record songs with Audacity. Since most laptops come with built-in microphones, you don’t need to attach an additional microphone for simple recording. Desktop users will need to use an external microphone. Here are the microphone test steps to make sure recording is ready:

Click the Start menu

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and choose

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Settings (Settings).
Click System .
Click Sound (m bar).
Select your microphone in the “Choose your input device” menu in the right pane.
Find the rhythm bar under “Test your microphone” in the right pane.
Speak into the microphone. If the rhythm bar moves while you speak, the sound is being detected through the microphone.
If the rhythm bar is stationary, you’ll click on Device properties and try turning up the volume. If you’re still having trouble, see how to connect the microphone to the computer.

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Click the Start menu

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in the bottom left corner of the screen.

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Enter voice recorder . This will find Voice Recorder on your computer. This is a free application available on Windows 10.

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Click Voice Recorder in the search results. The app’s microphone icon is usually displayed above the results section. Voice Recorder application will appear on the screen after the click.

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Click the blue and white microphone icon to start recording. This option is in the lower left corner of the application screen. The Voice Recorder program will start recording from the microphone.

If you want to record your voice, speak into the microphone.

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Click the blue and white squares to stop recording. This is the button in the middle of the window. This will save the recording and return you to the main Voice Recorder screen.

The recordings will be saved to the Sound Recordings folder in Documents by default.

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Click on the recording date to listen to it. Your recordings show up in the left pane with your latest recordings at the top.

To change the file’s name, you’ll right-click it in the left pane and select Rename .
To share the recording with others, simply right-click on the file and select Share . This allows you to choose which apps to share.

Steps

Capture audio from your computer with Audacity

Capture external audio with Windows Voice Recorder

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