Tutorial using Audacity 2.4.2 to record Windows web browser streaming audio to MP3

[Arlen Holder]

Tutorial using Audacity 2.4.2 to record web browser streaming audio to MP3

As always, please improve so all benefit from every action.
Note: Use whatever filespecs you prefer - below are simply filespecs I used.

Note: Tested only on Windows 10 version 2004 (OS Build 19041.572).
o My computer has no microphone but has realtek drivers for "stereo mix".

1. Download & install Audacity 2.4.2 to your Windows 10 computer:
<https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/>
<https://www.audacityteam.org/>
<https://www.audacityteam.org/download/>
<https://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/>
<https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity.html>
<https://download.fosshub.com/<gibberish>/audacity-2.4.2.zip>
Save to X:\archive\editor\audio\audacity\audacity-2.4.2.zip
Name: audacity-2.4.2.zip
Size: 11713880 bytes (11 MiB)
SHA256: 0C14F7C6850C93B9DACC14FE66876B8DC3397D92DBD849898783A21BAD1FFF55
Extract to c:\app\editor\audio\audacity\.
Name: audacity.exe
Size: 12676096 bytes (12 MiB)
SHA256: 02239A8C897496BA9F03AC967AF2CA5A03221BE83D8E7339097EDBFFC2B96E37
Compare hash with that on the web site:
<https://www.audacityteam.org/download/online-safety-when-downloading/#validate>
Create a Taskbar-toolbar menu shortcut:
FILESPEC c:\menu\editor\audio\audacity.lnk
TARGET C:\app\editor\audio\audacity\audacity.exe
STARTIN %appdata%\0 (which doesn't exist)
COMMENT Audacity
Test the taskbar toolbar menu:
Taskbar > menu > editor > audio > audacity
(That should bring up Audacity.)

2. Check that "microphone" access to your apps and desktop apps is set correctly:
Win+R > ms-settings:privacy-microphone
Allow apps to access your microphone = On
Allow desktop apps to access your microphone = On
Note: Make sure Audacity is in the list below that second setting above.
Note: I don't even have a microphone; but you need to have this access.
Otherwise you may get this Audacity error (which I got myself):
Error opening recording device.
Error code: -9999 Unanticipated host error.

Note: Some articles claim Microsoft recently added this "feature", and
at the same time Microsoft set the default to "Off"; so check it yourself.

3. Check your current audio driver version:
Win+R > devmgmt.msc
Sound video & game controllers > (find your audio driver)
Mine is pretty common: "Realtek High Definition Audio"
Doubleclick it and select the "Driver" tab & note the version.
Mine was Driver Version 6.0.8978.1, dated 6/23/2020 but yours may differ.

Note: You may have to use either a newer or older audio driver in order
to find one that allows "Stereo Mix", which is defined as follows:
"Stereo Mix allows you to record exactly what was being output to your
speakers, without going through any analog/digital conversion."
<https://mediarealm.com.au/articles/stereo-mix-setup-windows-10/>

Bearing in mind some Windows audio drivers have removed this feature, see also:
Tutorial: How to update a driver that Windows just doesn't want to update
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/a23fY9CM6rY>

4. Enable "Stereo Mix" in that Windows 10 audio driver:
Win+R > mmsys.cpl > Recording > (right click in blank space)
Choose "Show Disabled Devices" if necessary.
Enable "Stereo Mix" if not already enabled.

Note: If "Stereo Mix" is not an option, you may need newer or older drivers.
<https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/pc-audio-codecs-high-definition-audio-codecs-software>

See also:
Tutorial: How to update a driver that Windows just doesn't want to update
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/a23fY9CM6rY>

See also:
How to Record the Sound Coming From Your PC (Even Without Stereo Mix)
<https://www.howtogeek.com/217348/how-to-record-the-sound-coming-from-your-pc-even-without-stereo-mix/>

Note: This article says some onboard sounds cards don't have "Stereo Mix" support.
<https://mediarealm.com.au/articles/stereo-mix-setup-windows-10/>
If anyone knows a command to _test_ that to be the case, please post that test here!
Note: That article claims "WASAPI" may replace the lack of "Stereo Mix" in those cases.
o MME === Microsoft Multimedia Environment
o WASAPI === Windows Audio Session API
o WDM === Windows Driver Model
o ASIO === Audio Streaming Input / Output
o DirectSound === Direct Sound

If you can't get "Stereo Mix" to work on your PC, see also the "Jack" freeware workaround:
o JACK <https://jackaudio.org/downloads/>
<https://jackaudio.org/faq/>
<https://jackaudio.org/faq/jack_on_windows.html>

5. Set Audacity 2.4.2 preferences to use "Stereo Mix"
Taskbar > menu > editor > audio > audacity
Audacity:Edit > Preferences > Devices > Recording ==> Stereo Mix

Note: Other options may vary depending on your specific system.
Mine were:
Host: [MME]
Recording: [Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definiti...)]
Channels: [2 (Stereo)]

6. You may need a physical 1/8th-inch male plug in your green line-out:

Note: Some motherboards may not have an onboard line out jack; mine does.
Note: In my case, the other end of that connection can go nowhere
(i.e., all I need is a physical plug and nothing else in that jack,
although it's more usable if the other end goes to headphones or to
powered speakers so that I can hear the results at the same times as
I record them).

7. Stream audio, capture it, and save it to an MP3 file.
All you need is for audio to be streaming through your browser.
How or what you stream doesn't matter, where these are simply options.
<https://hypem.com/latest> <== I suggest this as it requires no login

Other choices for test music might be, for example:
<https://music.cliggo.com/>
<https://www.accuradio.com/>
<https://www.jango.com/>
<https://streamsquid.com/>
<https://www.soundzabound.com/>
Based on this one review:
The 8 Best Free Online Music Streaming Services With No Limitations
<https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-online-music-streaming-services-restrictions>

To begin recording the streaming audio that is currently playing:
Audacity:Transport > Recording > Record
Note: If you don't immediately see blue waveforms corresponding to the
audio that you can hear, then there's likely a problem with setup.

To pause recording:
Audacity:Transport > Recording > Pause

To save that recording:
Audacity:File > Export > Export as MP3 > fname.mp3

Note: Audacity no longer needs you to download LAME or FFMPEG separately.
(The conversion to MP3 is already part of the latest Audacity download.)

Note you can stream using YouTube but if you want YouTube audio,
it's likely far better to simply use the youtube-dl.exe Windows binary,
although it's a bit of a pita to set up properly, IMHO:
For example, to save a YouTube audio as an M4A file, you run:
youtube-dl.exe -f 140 https://youtu.be/HotLmqYFKKg

See also:
Tutorial for how to watch any Youtube video without ever seeing an advertisement
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.freeware/HPpxopbOrUY>

8. Test the resulting MP3 recording:

Doubleclick on the MP3 file you created to play it.
If you need an audio player, lots of people on Windows use VLC or MPC-BE.

VLC <https://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html>
<https://get.videolan.org/vlc/3.0.11/win64/vlc-3.0.11-win64.exe>
MPC-BE <https://sourceforge.net/projects/mpcbe/files/latest/download>
<https://netactuate.dl.sourceforge.net/project/mpcbe/MPC-BE/Release%20builds/1.5.5/MPC-BE.1.5.5.5433.x64-installer.zip>>

As always, please improve as this was tested only once on only one system.
Particularly test this on newer Windows versions & with other audio hardware.
Specifically, my RealTek drivers are reported by Dumo freeware as:
o Realtek High Definition Audio Realtek 6.0.8978.1, available 6.0.9018.1
o Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller, Realtek 10.43.723.2020, available 10.45.928.2020
o Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader, Realtek, 10.0.19041.31262, available 10.0.19041.31263

As shown in this Dumo freeware screenshot taken just now:
o <https://i.postimg.cc/Y00X4TFS/audacity02.jpg>

REFERENCES:
<https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_recording_computer_playback_on_windows.html>
<https://audacityguide.com/audacity-records-computer-audio>
<https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001137.htm>
<https://www.aimersoft.com/record-music/audacity-youtube.html>
<https://www.labnol.org/software/record-streaming-audio/5000/>
<https://davescomputertips.com/how-to-record-internet-audio-with-audacity/>
<https://mediarealm.com.au/articles/stereo-mix-setup-windows-10/>
<https://winbuzzer.com/2020/04/25/how-to-record-windows-system-audio-with-stereo-mix-xcxwbt/>
<https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/39532/how-to-enable-stereo-mix-in-windows-7-to-record-audio/>
--
See also:
o Typical first pass tutorial process on Windows 10 where NONE of the extent how to articles actually tell you what you really need to do!
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/fXrtth_A1xg>

[Arlen Holder]

Update

Today I tried to read in an MP4 file which failed in Audacity.
o What I needed to add was the free ffmpeg library 'avformat-55.dll'

Here's my summary which I will add as an appendix to the tutorial.
o As always, please improve so all benefit from every action you take.

If you try to open an M4A file, you'll get an error:
Error Importing
foo.m4a is an Advanced Audio Coding file.
Without the optional FFmpeg library,
Audacity cannot open this type of file.
Otherwise, you need to convert it to a supported audio format,
such as WAV or AIFF.

Edit > Preferences > Libraries >
LAME MP3 Export Library
MP3 Library Version: LAME 3.100 (Built-in)

FFmpgeg Import/Export Library
Audacity needs the file 'avformat-55.dll' to importa and export audio
via FFmpeg. <https://lame.buanzo.org/#lamewindl>

To get a free copy of FFmpeg, click here [Download]
<https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_ffmpeg_for_windows.html>

To manually locate FFmpeg after you install it:
<https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_ffmpeg_for_windows.html#locate>

<https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_installing_the_ffmpeg_import_export_library.html>
The optional FFmpeg library allows Audacity to import and export a much
larger range of audio formats including M4A (AAC), AC3, AMR (narrow band)
and WMA and also to import audio from most video files.

Because of software patents, Audacity cannot include the FFmpeg software
or distribute it from its own websites. Instead, use the following
instructions to download and install the free and recommended FFmpeg
third-party library.

Advanced usage: If you already have Audacity-compatible FFmpeg 2.2.x
or FFmpeg 2.3.x shared libraries in the system PATH, Audacity will
use those as long as you do not install FFmpeg from the links below
and as long as you do not specify the FFmpeg you want Audacity to use
in the Audacity Libraries Preferences setting.
=== === ===
a. Audacity needs a LAME library to export to MP3.
b. Audacity 2.3.1 has the LAME 3.100 library built in to export MP3.
c. Note that Audacity doesn't need ffmpeg to import WAV or AIFF.
d. To import M4a, Audacity 2.3.1 needs the ffmpeg library installed separately.
e. Audacity needs the "avformat-55.dll" library to import/export via FFMPEG.
<https://lame.buanzo.org/#lamewindl>
f. The audacity team recommends the ZIP ffmpeg and not the binary exe ffmpeg.
=== === ===
FFMPEG
X:\installers\editor\audio\audacity\ffmpeg\.
=== === ===
For Audacity 2.4.2, the recommended ffmpeg is the zip option
(not the exe binary!):

o <https://lame.buanzo.org/ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.zip>
Name: ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.zip
Size: 12255437 bytes (11 MiB)
CRC32: FD5807C4
CRC64: 9A155CC420F5B2CA
SHA256: 84B0669F71CFB44E557E54AE2C863B89CFA544D1ECF751D7114E2B5955EB0CB2
SHA1: 10F7637FFAC999A62653E63FC55D81536807A915
BLAKE2sp: 5D79BA722046EF73585049C3414B7A08ADB6D82E4BA8A60F6F98FF8AEC995E89
=== === ===
For Audacity 2.4.2, instead of the zip, you could use the exe binary
(but don't):

FFmpeg 2.2.2 Binary for Windows, compatible with Audacity 2.0.6 & later
o <https://lame.buanzo.org/ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.exe>
Name: ffmpeg-win-2.2.2.exe
Size: 9957947 bytes (9724 KiB)
CRC32: 3F60F50D
CRC64: EB652C462F431354
SHA256: ABF3EEE0C2556F6EFA0D4446DF7244778A61D6C3C339A4ECABACCDD85568E4E8
SHA1: 59829411D706B4D64023C9E05FDBC5D6C698D4FA
BLAKE2sp: 8EDCBE996A914A29828AF2B40DBAE0F857EB2E5922CFF624CBFF0191B6E39924
=== === ===
For older versions of Audacity 1.3.13 to 2.0.5 only, on Windows:
(use the FFmpeg 0.6.2 Binary, zip or exe)

o <https://lame.buanzo.org/FFmpeg_v0.6.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.zip>
Name: FFmpeg_v0.6.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.zip
Size: 3444021 bytes (3363 KiB)
CRC32: CE537EF6
CRC64: 58C671ED7D7D935A
SHA256: D030CDC12A6DB0F18A55E1272A218D666809A982500DDE12AD2DBC3BD1F8061B
SHA1: 43A6916798E97CE500B4EB383239BD50C55799E7
BLAKE2sp: C2EE814CF4EB23AB8DCDEF9CEAB52560B6B25DB9A1AF0E4B7B4D680F095E7417

o <https://lame.buanzo.org/FFmpeg_v0.6.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.exe>
Name: FFmpeg_v0.6.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows.exe
Size: 3016826 bytes (2946 KiB)
CRC32: DF38EC68
CRC64: 83816FD16003DE0C
SHA256: 96760833B848675460AE97CFED64EC1645643420EC386C7B92DA556D91AF79EF
SHA1: FA9D6468D9EA91C5BD24014E19F767167A0CC37E
BLAKE2sp: A5EBB75AF0B9A5CB742D1FB89B2618C6F278258FECF6130A02EB4BD5419B691F
=== === ===
LAME
X:\installers\editor\audio\audacity\lame\.
=== === ===
Lame Zip Package for Windows: Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe
o <https://lame.buanzo.org/libmp3lame-win-3.99.3.zip>
Name: libmp3lame-win-3.99.3.zip
Size: 202295 bytes (197 KiB)
CRC32: A37E015B
CRC64: BD5315EC7A6BCB72
SHA256: 628D6B0765D088734D22AC8C826FF11E4BCC807D65E62C255229C214D83C139B
SHA1: 97BB9C066CCD0EE3AA02723DA0B39707D74259F4
BLAKE2sp: A2D92C0E34FEFE620C6EE4CAD788BFCE0BE350E320C7869D10C628C4E58AAC13

Lame Installer Package for Windows: Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe
o <https://lame.buanzo.org/Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe>
Name: Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe
Size: 527423 bytes (515 KiB)
CRC32: FF1713FC
CRC64: 0EBCEC21F4415A21
SHA256: 90E9D629B4E528B77C6F51F185C3E81BB3A4ECA7D6D53F049ED9EF7787464E8B
SHA1: A9AA7463AA9B685BDD20A5E12448C25B40A7677F
BLAKE2sp: 882FD309DE6A9A86C09B97E6A11822D86A524C43F23B675C0509EE9356BE50A0
=== === ===
If you need or want a newer version of Lame because of the performance
improvements with newer AMD and Intel processors, here is Lame v3.100
in a ZIP file, known to work with "Audacity 2.x".
o <https://lame.buanzo.org/lame_v3.100.zip>
Name: lame_v3.100.zip
Size: 158130 bytes (154 KiB)
CRC32: 22BD8143
CRC64: A57919D6E926949D
SHA256: 2AD66ED683B0074D0381055D387A871CCE3C38626FEA29EE30710F73CEE12356
SHA1: B19F2C6D68C3CE1EC6B3F601ABA89FD381D003D8
BLAKE2sp: E926B47AF3290C042D3085B4307AAB939394B9697D2E2B7526AB4AB8B22E0B4B

If you need or want a newer version of Lame because of the performance
improvements with newer AMD and Intel processors, here is Lame v3.98.2
in a ZIP file, known to work with "Audacity 1.3.x".
o <https://lame.buanzo.org/lame-3.98.2-win.zip>
Name: lame-3.98.2-win.zip
Size: 242515 bytes (236 KiB)
CRC32: 44B51F03
CRC64: C9A4F85D726DB96C
SHA256: 9B4DBD228C6E1B10F8F926FF8CC1A6F5E9C9407CD03A8979276CB73128FCA44E
SHA1: DA9E3B04967DBB9FCAE93287E416A80BD373CA5A
BLAKE2sp: C861F58CDF54612DB63E80BCD6FAF1FD6A9B58465F5F47250A7C2E9C454C5CDF
=== === ===
You can also download the standalone lame v3.100 exe
o <https://lame.buanzo.org/lame_v3.100.exe>
Name: lame_v3.100.exe
Size: 393728 bytes (384 KiB)
CRC32: F71E8959
CRC64: 16010299EA408B4A
SHA256: 123D58F9794CE42826365539EEBE55FC9D402D069E846666BA975DA7135F5350
SHA1: 3D9B43D23001247B255E046BC6B7B7DFA7037F67
BLAKE2sp: 25567F90565FF249B5FFC257A68E886060E7D5048E250C301DDB7B6169DC403C
=== === ===
Setting up freeware often entails finding someone who has used it before.