So you want to start recording audio clips
you hear on your windows machine and don't
know where to start?
I've got you covered using free software,
which will allow you to record anything you
can hear with your speakers or headphones.
First, a note about backing things up: everyone
expects everything to go perfectly.
Well, life happens, and then you are stuck.
Protect yourself and backup your work.
Whether it's audio, photos, text or videos,
always backup your work.
There is a handy rule from computer science
circles called the 3-2-1 Backup rule.
First, have three copies of everything you
care about.
Then make sure that you have in at least two
different formats.
That means one on your hard drive and one
on an external drive, your phone, a USB key
(are those even a thing still?), or an SD
card.
Lastly, have ONE off-site backup stored online.
Because if your place is burglarized, if your
office floods or a pandemic prevents you from
accessing your files physically, you'll still
have a backup in the cloud which you use to
continue your work.
Dropbox, Google Drive, all of these services
are relatively cheap, especially when you
think about time and money costs associated
with having to redo everything.
Backup everything you do before you start.
Then back up as you work through your project.
And backup once you finish your work.
Form good habits, and you will succeed!
Whenever you are working on your project,
whether it's a photo, video, text, or audio,
good file management will be critical to your
success and how fast you can complete your
edits.
Label and organize your files into folders
for easy access.
Start by creating a folder for your project.
I like to name mine JOUR whatever the class
is.
In this case, 288, then the Assignment number
and then my last name.
Then inside of that folder, I like to create
a folder for audio, for photos, for my scripts,
my videos, and an extra folder in-case there's
something I need to keep around like PDF of
an event, saved webpages, etc.
Then organize your media into those folders.
And I mean organize - rename and label your
files with pertinent information.
And as you are renaming, make sure not to
change the file extension at the end accidentally.
Setting good habits allows you to succeed
long after others have fallen.
I always recommend, no matter whether you
are Windows, Linux, or Mac user, to download
and install the swiss-army knife of media
players, VideoLan Client or VLC.
It's open-source and free.
It's an incredibly robust media player to
test your final audio and video files before
submitting them online for distribution.
Let's get started.
You are going to need to install Audacity,
which is a free and open-source audio editor.
Once installed, restart your computer.
Once your computer is rebooted, launch Audacity.
Inside of the main interface, in the main
toolbar, switch from MME or windows direct
sound to Windows WASAPI.
Under output, make sure headphones or speakers
are selected with the Loopback function also
next to it.
Then make sure that both the stereo recording
channels are selected.
Lastly, make sure you set it for either headphones
or speakers.
Then hit the red record button.
And like I said before, anything you can hear
with your speakers or headphones can now be
captured.
This is useful to capture live streams of
press conferences, new music from YouTube
podcast from anchor or Spotify, the list goes
on and on and on.
Navigate to what you want to capture and start
playing it.
Then go back to Audacity to verify that sound
is being heard and recorded.
Once you've got what you need, hit the stop
button to end your recording.
Then in the top menu bar, select file export
and then choose export as wave.
In the same box, name your file and then set
the location where you want to save it.
I recommend the downloads folder for easy
access.
Then under format setting coding to sign 32
bit PCM high-quality.
Then push save if you're saving for archival
purposes and fill out the metadata with relevant
information.
Otherwise, hit OK.
You can now bring that file into any audio
or video editor.
That's a quick and cheap way to record audio
clips using free software on your windows
machine.
Thanks for watching, and I'll catch you guys,
gals, and non-binary pals in the next one!
