How do I record sound from my CD/DVD player without other system sounds in the mix?

Question

Using GoldWave I can record via the "Stereo Mix" channel, but I get no sound on the "CD" channel. Of course, using the stereo mix also mixes in all system sounds, including beeps, etc.

I have the analog out on the DVD player connected to the CD-IN connector on the MoBo. I can hear CDs and DVDs playing just fine through my speakers - is this because the CD is also IDE data connection in to deliver the sound to the sound card, then? I specifically want to record a DVD; I can easily rip a CD using GoldWave's built-in ripper.

Is there anything I have forgotten or have to enable? Or is it likely I have a damaged cable?

My system is an MSI mobo and is running Windows XP SP3.

Answer 1

You can't use the drive's analog/digital audio outputs with DVDs; those only operate for CDs.

Your best bet for extracting audio from a DVD is to rip the DVD using a tool like DVD Decrypter. You can then use MPEG tools to demux the audio stream out of a VOB-style video into a separate file, and use GoldWave on that.

Updated: Here's how to use DVD Decrypter to rip just the audio stream you want from a video DVD. I don't know if this process will work with a DVD-A, but it's likely similar. (Credit to Software Monkey for the steps.)

1. In the Mode menu, set Mode IFO.

2. The main window will get a Stream Processing tab. On it, select "Enable Stream Processing". In the window, leave a check by any stream you want; clear the checkboxes beside any stream you don't want. DVD audio streams are formatted as AC3, DTS or (L)PCM.

3. Select the stream you want, and select the "Demux" radio box at the bottom.

4. Check the stream processing options in the program settings (Tools -> Settings). If you're getting PCM data you probably want to check the "Convert PCM to WAV" box. (This is checked by default.)

5. Set the output destination, and click the "Disk-to-Drive" icon to start the process.

Now you can import your ripped audio into whatever audio processor you like. Enjoy!

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Original: I noticed a label on the bottom of my recent internal DVD drive purchase that says:

No Audio and Digital out function
even the pin-set is on the connector

It's unclear, but I interpret this to mean the audio output pins that would connect the drive to the soundcard are non-functional.

This means ripping the CDDA audio off the CD is the only way to import the audio. (Which is OK, since you get better results this way than recording the analog playback.)

OOPS. You're talking about DVD audio. That's different; that gets pulled off the DVD as a digital file anyway. It never went through the CD-in on the soundcard. That sound is generated by whatever player software you're using as it decodes the MPEG-2 streams on the DVD.

Answer 2

Recording the audio live is a much slower process than exporting the audio from the source using a ripping program.

CDs

Using Audacity (a free and open-source "audio editor and recorder"), you can import a track from a CD and edit it to your heart's content.

How to import CDs from the Audacity Wiki

DVDs

Using Free DVD MP3 Ripper, you can extract audio from .vob files into an MP3 format. To get the .vob file from the DVD, you'll have to use a DVD ripping program like DVD Decrypter or SmartRipper to create the .vob files. Once you have the extracted audio, you can use Audacity to edit the audio files.

Lifehacker gave a good review of Free DVD MP3 Ripper.

Answer 3

I use the Stereo Mix myself (or "What You Hear") and turn off all of the system sounds (which may or may not be desirable for you). Windows will allow you to save a "Sound Scheme" so you can make one that has all sounds turned off, but then revert to your normal scheme when you're not recording.

You can go into the sound settings in Windows XP (if anyone is using Windows 7 you can type "Sound" into the Start->"Search Programs and Files" box and it should come up). Go through the list of Program Events and set the sound to "(None)" for each, then save the scheme as something like No Sound Scheme.

When you want them back, you can re-enable another scount scheme.