Recording live streams

[hackneyvi]

"It looks like recordings can be edited but I can't figure out how."

Nor me. If it's WAV files you want to edit, Audacity is free and will do the job. If it's mp3s, try mp3DirectCut (also free, and very useful).

Thanks, Bryn - it hadn't struck me but since I've paid for this thing, I'm going to email the makers and ask for instructions.

And when I haven't had a reply in a week, download Audacity and forget them.

[Pianorak]

Just spotted this topic. I'd dearly like to record the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition webcast. How does one set about that, assuming it is at all possible?

[hackneyvi]

Dear Pianorak,

I think you'll find it is possible but I'll let smarter minds tell you how.

However, if you're non-technical (as I am), you need not fear it is anything other than straightforward.

A wonderful new library is opening up for me with the ability to record streamed music; my current preferences are for the contemporary shows like Hear and Now and some of the jazz concerts. And so far it's really been no different to using a cassette recorder on an old-fashioned music centre or a stack.

I start the recording software (no more complex than using Windows Media Player), start the music stream (R3, so far only in my case) and press the 'Record' button on the recorder. At the end, I save the file in exactly the same way that I might save a copy of a letter I've typed. And I play the music again simply by clicking on the relevant file on the computer.

May it give you joy! It's been a godsend to me.

[french frank]

Thanks, Bryn - it hadn't struck me but since I've paid for this thing, I'm going to email the makers and ask for instructions.

And when I haven't had a reply in a week, download Audacity and forget them.

Spurred on by the challenge of achieving something that Bryn hadn't managed to figure out, I've been rummaging among the tutorials.

Nope. Couldn't fathom it . It says, Select the fragment you want to make into a separate file, but doesn't say how you select it. I thought using the slider would work, but I just end up with a copy of the whole file

[Dave2002]

I think the tool I used (and liked) was the one from Pistonsoft - direct wav mp3 splitter http://www.pistonsoft.com/
There is also a join tool, but for creating individual slices of a long recording the splitter tool is the one to use.
It is really easy and fast and you can also play between cue points in a loop while adjusting them.

I wouldn't junk Total Recorder either, but you just need to keep it for what it's good at. It's not so heavy on disc space as Audacity. The firm does provide good levels of support, and has so far managed to honour its commitment to me to provide lifetime upgrades.

[johnb]

I usually edit in Soundforge but this is how I crop a file in Total Recorder (using Professional Edition 8.2 as an example):

- View the image in a separate window by: View/View Sound Image in Separate Window

- Find the start of the selection you want to save. (The narrow sound "image" at the top of the window shows the whole file and you can click on anywhere along that image to navigate to the rough position.)

- Once you have found the start position and find tuned it in the main central image window - click on the "Mark Start of Selection" button (see illustration)

- Similarly find the end of the selection and click on the "Mark End of Selection" button

- You can close the separate Sound Image Window now if you wish.

- In the main Total Recorder panel choose: File/Save Selection As...

... and Bob's your uncle



(You can do the same thing using the "Show Sound Image in Panel" but it is harder to get the start and end points exact. In this case the Mark Start of Selection and Mark End of Selection are the 1st and 5th buttons below the 'sound image'.)

[Bryn]

Thanks for that, John. I have never bothered to delve into the editing function of TR until this evening. Why would I when I have a somewhat ancient version of Sound Forge (5.0) to do the job with greater ease?

[hackneyvi]

Can I just bump Pianorak's request for info back up the thread?

Essentially, P, there are alot of different pieces of software that let you record streams. However, the advice seems to be that some may suit you better than others, depending on the recorded sound quality you desire, whether you wish to transfer the music to something like an iPod or other portable player to listen on the hoof etc.

After discovering that recording streams was possible (see the top of the thread), I did little or no research and paid about £12 for Total Recorder. However, I was immediately advised here that there were free versions which work just as well; there are posts, if you scan this thread, which express preference for free software.

Just spotted this topic. I'd dearly like to record the XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition webcast. How does one set about that, assuming it is at all possible?

Is a beginner's resume possible? Does anyone feel they could recommend, say, 3 players which give the range of choices to novices, if only as a starting point for their own enquiries?

[Pianorak]

Can I just bump Pianorak's request for info back up the thread?

Thanks, hackneyvi - but don't worry, I'm a patient soul.

[Dave2002]

There used to be tools which recorded the transport stream, which could then be converted into whatever format you want. One firm which did this was Appian Technologies if I remember correctly. They also provide Freecorder. I have used transport stream recorders and sometimes they work where other methods fail or are unwieldy. http://www.applian.com/freecorder4/ and http://www.applian.com/

[johnb]

hackneyvi,

There are two ways to capture a webcast, etc:

1) to capture the original data stream that is being "broadcast". This will often be "wrapped up" in a flv file. Some media players can play the flv file "as is" but you can also extract the actual music stream from the flv file quite easily. This might be an aac file which can be played on quite a number of music players and, if you want, can be converted to FLAC.

This way you are getting the exact original music as it was webcast. Programmes that capture the streams in this way are HiDownload, Replay Media Capture, etc. There are other utilities to extract the acc file but the method is more suited to people with a techie frame of mind.

2) The other way (which is less fiddly) is to capture the music at some point in the chain between the software that is 'playing' the music and the PC loudspeaker outputs. For most people this will be simpler to do.

Depending on the software being used to capture the music, it might be picked up at any point in the chain:

Software playing the music
|
Windows Mixer (which can do bad things to the music)
|
PC Sound Card (very variable quality)
|
Loudspeaker/headphone socket

Obviously the earlier in this chain that the music is picked up the better, but many of this type of programme give little or no indication of this.

One that does is Total Recorder and this is the programme I always use for this purpose.

If you are using Windows XP you can use the "Total Recorder driver" which picks up the digital output from the software playing the music (providing you select ""Software" in the settings). This is going to be as good as you are likely to get with this type of programme.

If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 there are problems using the "Total Recorder" driver and the default is the Total Recorder "Kernel" driver. This picks up the digital output of the Windows Mixer - not absolutely ideal but better than picking up the analogue output of the soundcard. The problem with Windows Mixer is that it can attenuate the volume and even automatically re-sample without you even being aware it is doing so. However, in Windows 7 you can set Windows Mixer so that its effects are minimized: (a) set the volumes to maximum (b) Go to Control Panel/Sound, select the output you are using - Properties/Advanced and set the Default Format to the same as what you are recording (e.g. 2 channel 16 bit, 44100 Hz for iPlayer), click on OK, then click on the Sounds tab and turn off the Windows sounds, click on Communications and click on "Do nothing".

[johnb]

There used to be tools which recorded the transport stream, which could then be converted into whatever format you want. One firm which did this was Appian Technologies if I remember correctly. They also provide Freecorder. I have used transport stream recorders and sometimes they work where other methods fail or are unwieldy. http://www.applian.com/freecorder4/ and http://www.applian.com/

Dave,

As fas as I know, the transport stream (.ts) is usually associated with recorded Freeview/Satellite programmes (TV and Radio). Radio programmes in a transport stream wrapper can be demuxed very easily using ProjectX. The result will be the original mp2 in a *much* smaller file.

ProjectX can also demux TV programmes recorded as transport stream but it will demux to elementary streams (i.e. the video and audio will be in separate files) and this might not be what people want. I use VideoReDo to edit recorded TV and it happily accepts transport streams and doesn't decode/re-encode so there is no degradation in quality.

[Stunsworth]

Although I'm now a Mac user I used VideoReDo a lot when I had a Windows machine. Very easy to use, a great piece of software.