Recording to a computer using line in

propmonkey

Well-Known Member
I am trying to record a song from a DVD of John Butler Trio to my computer. Im not lucky enough to have a DVD drive in my computer therefore I am using a stereo RCA cable to 1/8" plug. Im running sound out from my DVD player in to the Line In on that back of my computer. I used Goldwave(great program for editing) but its not recording that great of quailty. Im not sure if its the sound coming in or if its the comp lowering the qauilty. Goldwave gives me a choice or 16-bit interger, 24-bit interger, or 32-but floating point what should I have it set on?

If anyone has a better program for recording form Line In please let me know or if anyone has away to get better quailty form line in.
 
yes, i think most DVDs are 24 bit. Generally the higher the number the better the quality, but remember that you cant go higher then your computer or sound card can handle.

About the bad quality, do you hear it at better quality live our of your computers speakers then it is getting recorded at? Do you hear it at better quality when playing it back in goldwave then the saved file playing back in some other program? If yes to eather of these there might be other places to look for your problem.
 
i plugged my good headphones in my comp. im hearing a better sound playign through my comp then actully being recorded. i just recoded over 45 mins.
 
Are you hearing hiss, hum, buzz, audio compression, what are you hearing. If it is one of the first three it is possible that it is your hardware, but software is also an possibility. Also ensure that you aren't recording from a microphone or something else at the same time I just had that idea. If you are hearing audio compression the standard for DVDs, I think, is 24bit 48k audio. If you are saving to a .wav you should not be having problems with audio compression assuming that you are recording at decent quality. Could you give give more specs than just Goldwave? Mainly your audio card and your recording quality setup. Also are you sure it isn't noise developed from your DVD player?
 
im thinking that the dvd player is pushing out a strong singal and its getting disorted at higher levels. the quiet parts are good. i need something like a compressor/gate. i have a Realtek AC97 sound card. and i just looked and i am running in line in not microphone.
 
Hmmmm my guess is your recording to a toshiba laptop right? (well, my toshiba laptop has the same internal sound card!) I have never been able to get good quality out of this card. Laptops are noisey recorders by default b/c there is soo much electronics in close proximity to the audio (which is why the best laptop sound cards are the external type) You may have already done this, but if you double click the volume icon (to get to the full volume control panel), go to Options>Properties, select recording, make sure every option is checked, then hit ok. In the volume control window make sure everything except the one you are recording from is down all the way and the right input is selected. If there is an advanced button under the input you are using, click it and try the different settings found in there. There is a small chance that that will help you out. Otherwise, maybe try recording to a PC (sorry if you are already, it just would seem abit weird that the same sound card is on a PC and laptop (unless the PC sound card is "intrigated" right on to the motherboard, in which case it will often have the same noise problems as a laptop soundcard)).

Hopefully that will help some. If not, please supply as much info as possible and maybe I can narrow it down somemore.
 
Actually AC97 is fairly standard for onboard sound cards for computers. If that is the case however you may consider getting a new sound card if you want good quality. My guess is you are getting some clipping on the peaks as you said, and that is due to DVDs not being mastered the same as CDs are, and that you are having alot of noise. From any experience I've always had a substantial amount of noise from all onboard sound cards, including the higher end ones. I have a Sound Blaster Audigy I use and it is pretty noise free. It is supposed to have a 100db signal to noise ratio, and it probably isn't that good but I can't hear its noise and I do a fair amount of recording on it. My recording is not from a microphone however being that it isn't oriented for professional audio but high end home audio. Anyway the solution to your noise is your AC97 sound card I think.
 
ya external (or alternative) sound cards are probably the best way to go. (although they might be expensive) I have an Audigy 2nx (external USB soundcard that works great w/ my laptop) and a Presonus Firepod both of which work really great for super clean recordings.
 
i have a desktop emachine, ill get a laptop in a year for college. i think ill just by a dvd drive and rip the audio. the soudns quailty is ok for now until i can rip it.
 
You can go buy a cheap sound card for $30 and the audio should improve greatly. Onboard sound cards always sound like crap no matter what you do.
 
ill just wait for a dvd drive to spend money until then does anyone now of any good compressor/gate/limitor software that i could use that may help?
 
I dont know if that is really an option, if the signal is comming in too hot for the analog to digital converter by the time it would reach any kinda software it would already have been garbled. I could be wrong but that's what I am thinking. Hmm... maybe find a couple of LONG old 1/8inch extension cables to dasy chain together and ever so slightly lower your volume. (ok ya, that would proably have to be alot of cable and your signal would probably degrade over those connections anyways)

I think i am having a similar problem with my schools CD player. I am going to try to find time to bring in a RCA based DJ mixing board i have to plug into it and try to use it's meters to see if that is really the case or if it is something weird w/ my school's mixing board. (this setup distorts really really really bad whenever the gain is turned up on the channel and the main volume slider for that channel is up past a inversely relative to the gain setting (distorts earlier the higher the gain))
 
I like to use the program Audacity. I like it because it can do multiple tracks easily and I record my music on it. I would have a band, but everyone just copped out, so I am stuck playing all the instruments. Also Audacity encodes music at variable rates. I like, but it is just my personal preference.
 
Most DVD players have a volume control on them. All that I have used, and looked for a volume control, have had it. That may help your clipping.
 

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