Recording sound with Mint

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Running Mint Mate 19.2.  Anyone know which package to select for best results in recording sound using a microphone?  In my Win7 days I did this by typing “sound recorder” into the data field on the Start menu, and there is a program pre-installed that will do it.  Typing the same prompt into the Mint menu search box generates a list of packages from which to choose and install.

I do still have W7 in a dual-boot setup but using Mint would be cleaner, as my goal is to attach an audio file to an email.  Since we no longer go online with 7, I would have to transfer the recording from 7 to Mint, and I would expect to lose some fidelity in doing that.

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OscarCP

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VLC should do it.

cheers, Paul

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Slowpoke47

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Slowpoke47 wrote:

I would have to transfer the recording from 7 to Mint, and I would expect to lose some fidelity in doing that.

Perhaps use the cross-platform Audacity? It’s well thought of, has excellent import and export options for audio and you wouldn’t need to learn two different interfaces for the two different platforms. I’ve used it successfully for years in Windows and always found the documentation to be well-written as well.

PS – You won’t lose fidelity of audio output between the platforms.

Hope this helps…

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OscarCP, Slowpoke47

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Thanks, I used Audacity in W7 for playback but it didn’t come to mind in this case.

Rick Corbett wrote:

You won’t lose fidelity of audio output between the platforms.

After consideration, I think I’ll start with recording a file in W7 and see if it’s acceptable.  While it isn’t music, the repro needs to be true.

I have never needed to dub between platforms, but I have decades of experience dubbing music from vinyl and reel-to-reel, to cassettes, and more recently, digital media.  This is the first and likely the last time this will arise, and I don’t want to add another program for a one-sie.

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Paul T wrote:

VLC should do it.

cheers, Paul

Couldn’t get VLC to record from the mic.  I’ve used this program before (in W7) and it is anything but intuitive.  I don’t want to have to take a seminar to make the 1-min. recording I need :-).

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Gnome Sound Recorder should work for you.  It’s in the repo as gnome-sound-recorder.

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Slowpoke47

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I would say +1 for Audacity. I use it on Windows for quick one-off recordings.

I like how you can even use it to record “what you hear” from your browser, to an audio file.

It’s simple to use, light, and free and open source.

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Slowpoke47, Elly

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My thanks to all for the suggestions.  It has dawned on me, though, that I have to assume that the recipient to whom I’ll be sending the audio file does not run Linux and may not use Audacity either.

The backstory here is that the transmission in my old Corvette, which has a German ZF manual 6-speed and a LuK clutch, is making a puzzling and erratic noise at idle and on shutdown and I hope a distant expert on these items can suggest a diagnosis before we take it apart.  Unlike Ask Woody forum members, the vast majority of computer users run Windows with fewer rather than more extra programs added.

It won’t be helpful if I send him a file he cannot easily open.  For that reason, I’d better use the Sound Recorder program that is included with Windows, so he can just click on the attachment and it will open.  I’ll report the outcome.

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Simple solution then. Don’t send the Audacity project file to the recipients, but rather export the sound file in a common format such as a standard .wav format, which is universal on all Windows machines (and others).

One of the coolest things about Audacity is that it is like a Swiss army knife that easily lets you convert from one sound file format to another.

The Audacity manual can be read online here: https://manual.audacityteam.org/

Export Formats

“There are a number of audio formats that Audacity, as shipped, can export to. Other formats can be added by installing extra software libraries.

    As shipped formats include WAV, AIFF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and MP2.
    You may install the optional FFmpeg library to export to many more audio formats including AC3, AMR(NB), M4A(AAC) including MP4 and WMA.“

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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Slowpoke47

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Slowpoke47 wrote:

It has dawned on me, though, that I have to assume that the recipient to whom I’ll be sending the audio file does not run Linux and may not use Audacity either.

Others have mentioned .wav and .mp3 files, which will allow the sound file to be used on Windows PCs (or anything else, like a Mac or a phone) even if you record it on Linux.  The broader point is that the file format of the data is the important thing, not the platform (Linux, Windows, etc.) or the program used to create the data file.  You were on the right track thinking of using the same program that Windows users have so that they can read it, but the reason why that would work is that they would then both be using the same file format.  Once you narrow it down to what format you want to use, though, you often will have a great deal of flexibility in choosing the program that you use to make such a file.

 

The backstory here is that the transmission in my old Corvette, which has a German ZF manual 6-speed and a LuK clutch, is making a puzzling and erratic noise at idle and on shutdown and I hope a distant expert on these items can suggest a diagnosis before we take it apart.

Does the sound at idle go away if the clutch is pressed (as opposed to letting it idle in neutral), but with everything else functioning as normal?  I’d think throw-out bearing for that.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon
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Slowpoke47

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As long as you save it as MP3 anyone can open it.

cheers, Paul

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Slowpoke47

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Slowpoke47 wrote:

I have never needed to dub between platforms

You know that most file formats (like .MP3) are platform-agnostic, right?

So you can use both Windows and Linux and use a common, shared folder for input/output of data irrespective of the OS (or even app)?

Hope this helps…

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Elly, Slowpoke47

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Rick Corbett wrote:

So you can use both Windows and Linux and use a common, shared folder

With the dual-boot setup, Linux provides access to all Windows files by default- no shared folders are needed.

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Ascaris

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