The VideoLAN Forums

I have used VLC Media Player as my default for a number of years and find this an excellent program. I am running Windows Vista Home Preimium.

One of my uses for VLC is to record streaming audio from an internet radio station. I actually use Freecorder to record the stream but VLC is the deafult player.

A few months ago (perhaps after an update to VLC?) I noticed that anything recorded this way was at much too high a volume. It appears that you can adjust the record volume in VLC, but only by clicking on "increase volume" or "decrease volume" under the audio tab. But there does not seem to be a way of checking the record volume level after you have clicked increase or decrease. Also if I clcik "reset preferences " under the tools tab, the record volume reverts to the much too high level.

Any suggestions as to how I can set the record volume to "normal"? There is no adjustment in Freecorder.

Apologies of this has been asked and answered before. I could not find anything on a search.

How do you start the recording process?

I open the webpage of the streaming internet radio, and click on the "streaming" link. Then Explorer 8 asks if I want to open or save. I click "open". It then runs a security scan. After this, VLC opens and the sound plays.

I open Freecorder while the above is happening, and it says "waiting for audio" until the sound is heard.

Why don't you use VLC recording button or transcoding feature?

I guess I didn't realize that VLC Media Player provided this function. When I check the menus, I don't see a "recording button."

Tools -> Advanced Controls

Thanks for that. I have now experimented with recording using VLC and, to quote a phrase "the plot thickens" with respect to my original question.

If I record using VLC, it makes no difference what I do to the "increase volume" or "decrease volume" functions under the Audio tab. Anything rceorded is at much too high a volume, so that on playback the sound is distorted and I need to set my volume control no higher than level 1 of 20 levels. Anything above this is too loud. All my other recordings playback at volume about 4 or 5. It seeems that the increase and decrease volume tabs on VLC only affect VLC playback, not recording.

However, if I record internet streaming using Freecorder, then the recording volume varies directly with the volume set in VLC. To get a recording of acceptable volume using Freecorder I need to have the VLC audio level as shown by Tools-> Preferences -> Audio set to about 35%. Note that this only applies to recording. Playback of any typical media file is OK at 100% audio volume.

Hence it looks like I will have to contine using Freecorder for my recordings.

So my original question remains: Why is the default audio level on VLC (100%) too loud when recording, but perfectly acceptable on playback?

Thanks in advance for any specific suggestions on this topic. I guess what is puzzling is why doesn't everybody have this problem?

Could you share the URL that you are recording?

Here are 2. The first one is typically the worst offender:

http://69.12.217.101:8000/listen.pls
http://www.2xxfm.org.au/2xx.m3u

Thanks, I will check them during this weekend.

I recorded http://www.2xxfm.org.au/2xx.m3u stream and I detected no problems during the playback of the recording. So does the http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZU9B9EXO also playback too loud?

No, that was OK. Did you try the other URL I gave you? As I said that one is the worst.

I didn't test the first one under Win32. I will try that during weekend.

I didn't notice any issues
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=45WDEMKD

Sorry to rise an old thread, but I'm also experiencing this annoyance... I record a flux from here : http://www.trance.fm/play/tc320.wvx, and when I open the file with let's say Audacity, I can see (from graphic indicator) that the volume is too high. I guess it's a VLC problem since the sound is very good on the website itself.

It seems that the stream is recorded louder than it's actually aired ?

System is windows 7 64, VLC is 2.02.

It seems that the stream is recorded louder than it's actually aired ?

If you are using the record button then VLC records the native stream and no transcoding is performed.

Thanks for the answer. I actually record the raw stream, so that I can keep the 320kb/s rate (I noticed that if don't proceed that way, the stream is converted to 128kb/s)... Still, there is a difference between the original stream and the replay.

Anyway, thanks for your great job with VLC, it's a very nice program

I too have this problem - am recording feeds from Internet radio stations on the NPR network. When playing the original stream, I encounter no distortion. However, when playing it back on WMP or VLC I notice the distortion.

Is there a volume control in VLC? If so, how do I manipulate it?

Also, I noticed users are recording the 'raw stream' of a program. How do I record in this format to preserve the 320kbps?

Thanks.