Recording System Audio with Jing--Windows Edition
Note: Updated information is located on the Jing Help Center, here.
"How do I record my system's audio when I make a video?" We hear that question a lot, and if there was a simple answer I'd be shouting it from the rooftops (which I'm sure no one in the TechSmith office park would appreciate). There's actually more to this question than meets the eye (cue robot transformation noises).
By default, Jing for Windows uses your system's specified recording device. (Mac users, I haven't forgotten you. I wrote a post for the Mac that uses Soundflower.) The default recording device is usually the input microphone, whether you have a microphone or not. We designed Jing with quick and simple communication in mind, so it made perfect sense to us to record voice narration with our videos.
If you decide you'd rather have system audio, here are a couple of options. I want to be clear here: Jing can only record from one input source at a time. This means if you want to record system audio, you can't record voice narration on that video. Also, not all sound cards have an internal sound mixer to record (in fact, the laptop I'm working on right now doesn't have one). With those caveats in place, here's how to change your system's default recording input.
Changing your system's default recording input
On Windows XP, go to your Control Panel and open Sounds and Audio Devices. On the Audio tab, click Volume in the Sound recording section. This brings up the Recording Control. This is where things can get tricky.
If you're lucky, there's a input here labeled something like "Stereo Mix", "Mono Mix", "Mixer", or "Wave In". It could be called something else too; unfortunately there isn't much of a standard among different sound cards when it comes to what to call this. If you don't see one of these (or something vaguely similar), go to Options > Properties and if it is there, make sure it is checked. If it's not there, your sound card probably doesn't have an internal audio output that it can record from.
Use a patch cable with your line in and line out jacks
All hope isn't lost though. If you're serious about recording your system audio, I've got one more idea you can try, courtesy of Mike Curtis, my cube neighbor and fellow Jing Project blog contributor. This one might require a little investment though. If you happen to have a short cable around with two male "mini" stereo ends you can plug one end into your computer's "line out" jack and the other into it's "line in" jack. I happen to have one I use to plug my iPod into my car's auxillary stereo input that I bought for five dollars or so at a local Radio Shack. Not all computers have line in and line out jacks, but yours might. This creates a loop from your line out signal (which should be your system audio) to your line in (which you can set to be the recording source by using the method I described above).
A word of caution--be careful to use your line in jack and not your microphone jack. Your microphone jack is designed to take a much weaker signal than your line in jack. Not only are many microphone inputs mono only, but the difference in signal level creates distortion as the audio signal clips. It doesn't sound pretty, and I think it's safe to say your viewers probably won't want to hear it. :)
Hopefully one of these solutions helps you record system audio with your Jing videos. Remember, if you change your recording input in the Recording Control, you'll need to turn it back to your microphone to get voice narration with your videos.
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Has anyone managed to get Jing to work alongside Photoshop CS3? It works fine with other software however prevents CS3 opening.
I just started using Jing to record a tutorial. On my first take, the audio was recorded fine from my microphone. I tried a second tutorial, but no audio was recorded and the message was Mic is Mute prior to the recordinng. I did nothing to the program.
I checked and the mic is on and functioning.
Why is Jing muting the mic and how do I change it back? I'm using Vista. I tried closing Jing and then restarted it, but there was no change. Mute is still displayed.
Can anyone help? This is a fun and great simple tool if I can get the audio to record consistently.
TIA
Don S.
If you record using the "stereo mix" you CAN still record voice over the top (at least, you can on my PC). If you make sure that the mic is also heard over the loudspeakers when you use it (i.e. unmute it in the playback mixer, although watch out for feedback if you're too near your speakers or they're set too loud) then you'll record everything coming out of the speakers...i.e. computer audio and mic.
BB Flashback has excellent setup for this, allowing you to control the amount of each 'audio input' for your video in it's own little mixer.
enjoy
Bruce
Thanks Bruce. I think I need a little handholding, sorry. In Vista, I am not sure how to get to the playback mixer. I am still puzzled as to why it worked the first time, but never again.
What is "BB Flashback"?
I see where there is a 5 minute limit on the produced videos. I did exceed that on my second try and everything stopped. Could that be when Jing internally muted the mic? I know I'm reaching here.
Don S.
no sound with VISTA , camtasia works, sound good, no sound on playback.
I followed Matt Dyer's instructions above to have Jing capture the audio on a webcast (Bloomberg TV) and it worked great. It captured all the audio but none of the video. Any idea about why the video was not captured? Thanks in advance.
Hi Dan,
Does your video just look like a black square? It sounds like you tried to record live video, and I think this happens quite a bit.
Here's two articles from TechSmith Tech Support. Even though it's under Camtasia Studio, I -think- this the issue you're having.
1. http://tinyurl.com/64nqd4
2. http://tinyurl.com/6jebag
As a quick aside to folks that might be reading this, Jing outputs a SWF video flash format and it's not really designed for live video capture. Go ahead and do it, but get ready for some mega large file sizes. :)
Nina,
The audio sounded fine to me...with the exception of the occasional "sssssssss" sound when you'd pronounce your "s's".
How do you check the mic before the video? I made a video and the audio did not record.
Can you provide some detail? Thanks
Susan
Ok, I recorded voice with my Powerpoint into a video and have the file, but how do I get it onto my Ipod. When I converted the file to quicktime it only had sound - not the recording of the powerpoint too. Thank you. I love Jing.
Hi. This is a great tool, but I have the same problems as Susan.
It tells me that the mic is turned on, but I can't hear anything in the recorded video.
How do I get it to work? Is there any option I have missed?
I can record from my system audio, but it records the audio with lots of feedback noise which makes the recordings unusable. Are there any settings that reduce feedback noise?
I can't get the mic to work...I have Win2003 is there something special I need to use it on here? Though it shows up, and I can use the mic and have sound with everything else - it seems to not work when recording with Jing??? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks - Shell
I have the same issue with the recording of audio. If I use any other program, e.g. skype it recognizes my voice, but only jing doesn't hear my voice if I talk to my computer. I even tried to use a headset and that didn't work either.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I am on Windows XP and I have a Dell Inspiron 600m, and the mixer device where you check the Stereo Mix says it uses SigmaTelAudio.
Thanks
I am wondering if I can just record audio only using Jing, because I just want a soundfile to play when people open my webpage?
I have made a narrated video but I would like to get rid of the picture aspect of it.
Cheers Tom
I am having no luck with getting audio to record while recording video. I get the countdown and the word "Mute."
I am working on Windows XP, Professional Version.
I have tested this with both my Sennheiser and Logitech headsets. I visited the control panel and in each test, the proper headset was shown to be the recording device (I tested them one-at-a-time).
I have successfully created podcasts in Audacity and Camtasia videos just to be sure there's nothing wrong with my computer today.
I have restarted the computer to no avail. I'm out of ideas, and I REALLY want this to work. I am a technology education professor, and I think this tool would be great for K-12 teachers to use to make short video tutorials. I am ready to spread the good word about Jing, but I'm stuck. Can anyone advise? Should I just reinstall and keep trying?
.
Hey, i'm trying to make my first video. i am using vista and i do not believe i have an internal microphone with my computer - no external. my video recording always shuts down with in the first few seconds with the following Error: Audio Open Device Failed
Can i turn this step off and just have video w/o any sound recorded? do i need a microphone to work the video capture?
Ahhhh, that 'weird SSSSSS sound' as somebody called it before, is driving me crazy!
Thought it's my mic, so I tried various mics, but a $100 Audio Technica - only to realize it's ONLY IN JING.
If I use the same mic in Camtasia, the sound is great.
Yes, I also played with all settings...
No luck to get rid of the distorted SSSS sound in Jing... ;(
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Falk
Ahhhh, that 'weird SSSSSS sound' as somebody called it before, is driving me crazy!
Thought it's my mic, so I tried various mics, even bought a $100 Audio Technica - only to realize it's ONLY IN JING.
If I use the same mic in Camtasia, the sound is great.
Yes, I also played with all settings...
No luck to get rid of the distorted SSSS sound in Jing... ;(
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance,
Falk
4-11-2009
Count me as one of those who cannot seem to make Jing record audio. Nothing wrong with my setup; the basic Windows Sound Recorder works fine, Screen Toaster, Wink, DemoStudio, all record audio and video without a hitch, basically everything I test with _except_ Jing records narration from my headset mike without a problem. If it were otherwise I might suspect a setup problem, but I've checked everything and everything seems to be copacetic.
Needless to say, this is a showstopper. There are alternatives, of course, some of which are listed above. But I would like to use Jing if I can just get past this audio issue.
System: Vista Ultimate
Hi guys, I cannot get the audio/video to sync....audio sounds like it's on a go slow.....any ideas?
Listen for yourself if you get a chance;
http://www.screencast.com/users/markreidy/folders/Jing/media/9687b374-af21-4ac6-a736-942e7bf1589c
Can you email me back or do you prefer to post online?
Thanks
Mark
PS Great product
I can get audio when I record video with my webcam, so I know the settings and the mike work. When I record video with jing, the audio does not go thru - any suggestions would be appreciated
Love jing, just can't get rid of that dreaded SSSS sound. All other apps have no problem with mic set up. Would love a fix or workaround.
I am having the same problem....no recorded sound from my microphone. It is driving me crazy...i AM an audio guy and this just isn't making sense to me. I too can use the mic with 'sound recorder' and etc, but jing doesn't get it at all!
I have to send this to a client in need before morning,,,it is 4:50am now...otherwise, i have to travel and show them in person over and over and over...
I am going to try it on another computer or two and see if it works... otherwise, i guess i need to annotate(closed caption) it all in a separate program, so there's another 3 hours of 'fun'
ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Mark, I hope the other computer worked. I also hope it's not too late but check out this post. http://www.techsmith.com/learn/camtasia/6/faq/system-audio.asp It's for Camtasia Studio but totally relevant to Jing.
The key thing with Jing is there is no "audio settings" menu--it just looks for the default. One example where it can be tricky is that let's say I have a webcam (with a mic) and my internal mic, the computer may think the webcam is default so Jing will look for that, but what if the webcam settings are muted or is disabled in some way?
Also, this will be too late for this round, but if this isn't resolved I'd suggest contacting tech support at http://support.techsmith.com
Best Wishes,
Mike Curtis, TechSmith
if I go JingPro, am I able to make videos bigger than 5 minutes eg can I make 10 minute videos?
and do i need some special software to convert them as suitable for YouTube format or does JingPro do that automatically?
Also have you thought about an affiliate programme?
I have sound files that I recorded on a digital wave player and I would like to play them on my computer and have Jing record them. How do I do this? I can play the files, but I'm not seeing the option to "Jing" them.
Followed above advice and the other two advices elsewhere on Jing (which seemed to be different).
I found the Recording Control and checked Stereo Mix.
I get the message Jing audio device open failed.
Would love to solve this one!
Hi,
my computer does not have any of the audio buttons or line-in as described in the two options described by the original poster. Since I have a headphone, I tried to connect only the microphone input and then place the mic next to the speaker as an alternative. Nothing is muted. However, the recording only captures the video but no audio portion. What's wrong with my setup? I am on Windows XP Pro. Thanks.
Hi, using a vista pc I found the audio works great on swf but on the mpeg setting it is really muffled. Any suggestions? Thanks
I tried recording a webinar. I got the picture, but no sound, even though I could hear the sound through my headphones.
I'm using XP Pro and SNAGIT ver 8.0
Do I have to hook up a microphone through my headset?
Thanks
Dave
Impossible de Prendre du son saccadé ..... c'est inaudible ...
CEPENDANT Les images capturées sont bonnes ...!!!
Une petite merde Jing en cours .... si je trouve mieux je desinstalle cette fiche ....
au revoir
Thank you for this info!
I have Windows XP 2002
I have a headset that I was able to use, instead of buying one more thing!
I followed the (YOUR) instructions and went to :
>control panel, then
>sounds/audio tab, next
> on audio tab- then
>I selected on that audio page:
sound record AND sound playback default setting it was set to:
the REALTEK audio output to >>C-media headset.
I can now use the Jing/screencast to do simple video screenshots with audio!
IT WORKED !
I just had to say thank you!!!!!
Elaine
Hi,
I'm having a problem with the audio syncing with the vidoe when using Jing. The audio sounds fine, but is obviously out of sync with the video when recording an MPEG. Anyone have a solution?
Thanks,
Steve
my mic will work for recording everything else, but doesn not work in Jing. i have checked the various recording settings and options and all is as it should be; again the mic records in powerpoint for example but no audio in Jing. i'm using windows XP,
The SEO business is very competitive indeed.
I've provided various solutions, including those previously mentioned, at my site at nostereomix.com, but to save everyone the hassle of reading it all, one very useful solution would be to use the Freecorder browser plugin available for IE and Firefox. While I advise Creative Lab's X-Fi Go USB sound card which provides the "What U Hear" recording option, Freecorder is free and it works perfectly fine for most cases.
I love jing!
Found solution ...
If you find the Mic says mute as you are commencing to record (ie during the count-down) - look at the Jing Menu and a Mic on/off menu item appears.
It will have a cross through the mic if it is mute. Click on on it during the count-down to re-enable the mic to 'Mic on'.
The tricky thing is - this mic on/off is not there before you start recording.
I am guessing people accidentally click on it when pausing their recording. Then Jing remembers the mute setting for the next recording.