Issues recording audio during a screen capture demo

[susannetic]

I'm working on a computer with a Windows 7 OS and Captivate 5. I have "stereo mix" enabled as default recording device.(Realtek high definition audio).My task at hand involves demonstrating a video captioning tool, so I need to be recording the video's audio as I step through the process of creating the captions in a web based environment. I must admit that what I am trying to accomplish works easily with other screen capture tools (even free tools) but I would really like to be able use Captivate 5 for this project and others upcoming that require the same functionality. As a last resort, I've also tried adjusting the audio settings within the project (selecting the "narration" option as shown) but I'm not having any luck getting the results I need. I'm really hoping that it's something simple I'm just missing, and that  forum experts can nudge me in the right direction... Thanks very much for your input.

[RodWard]

I've read your post a couple of times but I'm still not quite sure exactly what "results" it is that you aren't having any luck getting.  Can you be a bit more specific?

In general, if you're only using a single microphone to record your voiceover, stereo is going to be overkill and will just make your filesize grow for no real benefit.  Mono will result in a smaller published filesize overall.

Having used Captivate for many years, I would say that the workflow is rarely more efficient recording as you capture.  That might be the way you would approach capturing with something like Camtasia, but Captivate's strength is that you have so many post editing options.  So I tend to find it easier just to quickly capture the screens I need, and then go back in afterward and work out what I want to say about those screens, recording my voiceover AFTER I've weeded out the slides I don't need.

[susannetic]

I'm sorry I wasn't clear, I'll elaborate....  In this particular case, I'm showing faculty how to easily caption (for accessibility/508 compliance) their existing online  video content using a web based tool. I would like to record  a YouTube video with it's own audio as I demo the captioning of that audio. I  can get the video, but Captivate won't record the audio and I can't figure out why...thanks for your input.  I'm hoping the solution is something simple that I've twisted round or forgotten...

[RodWard]

So, just to clarify, you don't have any problems with Captivate recording your own voiceover using a microphone plugged into your PC, it's just that Captivate isn't picking up the audio channel of the video that is being played on the web page you're capturing.

You want Captivate to record the sound from the video file as well as your own voiceover. Is that the issue?

[susannetic]

in this PARTICULAR case, for this project in the context that it will be used, I won't even need a voice over...the demonstration itself with the text captions created by Captivate to reinforce  the process are all that I'll need. No issues with audio in any other context. this one little glitch is my only hiccup.

[RodWard]

OK, I understand now.

But with Captivate, the bad news is that just playing a video file on the screen, and capturing what you see with Captivate will not result in the audio from the video file being captured at the same time.

Captivate records audio via the microphone channel in your computer.  What you can do as a possible workaround is turn on your PC audio and place a USB microphone near your speaker to pick up the audio from the video.

Another trick I have sometimes used is to purchase a cable with two male 1/4 inch jacks on each end, then plug one end into the microphone port and the other end into the headphones port on your computer.  Be careful to turn the sound down low on your volume control and do some tests to find the appropriate setting where it will record the sound at a good audible volume.

Hope this helps.

[susannetic]

Thanks, that's a much better solution than recording with another program and trying to sync just so...I was sure that I had done this in the past with earlier versions of Captivate and it wasn't a big deal . I really had my fingers crossed it was just a matter of tweaking a setting...Oh well...

[andresg37648975]

I remember using this function also, the 'Record System Audio' should capture the audio, no?

[Lilybiri]

Sorry but this thread is from 2011. At that moment there was no possibility to record system audio as far as I remember.

[andresg37648975]

Oops, I saw 2011 as 2021. Thanks for clarifying my blunder.