I love sharing solutions to life's everyday problems. Not only does it help you, it highlights usability issues that should be fixed in the next iterations. Alas, they tend to not be, which is why knowing the right path is even more important — there's simply no substitute for raw experience.
I was helping my wife record microphone AND speakers. She wants sound and music on her computer to be captured at the same time as her vocal narration. She's been doing Second Life videoblogging with Xfire, and we've been working on improving her setup over the weekend. Also, she was previously on a USB headset, but alas, we didn't find an easier way to record from that and the standard stereo minijacks.
Thankfully, using the usual 3.5mm connections can have…
A few advantages over USB:
- Your sound card may have better quality. Contrary thoughts are a fuzzy myth, and dependent on what hardware's involved, since a surprising amount of USB headsets capture tinny sound with their cheap chipsets — trust your ears.
- It's easier to switch between headset and speakers, instead of having to change the output each time in the Control Panel. (What a hassle!)
- Consequently, hotswapping in the midst of an application is easier.
Vista or XP?
My wife's on Windows Vista while I'm still on XP. If you're on XP too, related info can be found in my popular "How to boost the mic volume on your Realtek audio codec". Basically on XP, it's a matter of making sure the "Mic Volume" AND "Stereo Mix" are both enabled in Realtek HD Sound Manager > Mixer tab (or equivalent). As a perfect example of one of those tricky subtleties, you may need to click a wrench icon and make sure those inputs are enabled — otherwise, they'll be invisible.
The following details may vary; in my travels, I've come across many variations that work on the same basic principles. Many integrated audio chipsets are Realtek, and if yours differs, consult your manuals (if there are any, and hopefully they're helpful).
Now then, on with the show! Here's how you do it…
Easy steps!
Make sure your mic is plugged in (often to a pink color-coded 3.5mm stereo minijack port), and if applicable, the headphones part of your headset is plugged in too. Otherwise, leave that (green plug) unplugged, and the sound will come out of your speakers.
Do a quick sound check to make sure sound is playing as expected.
In Windows Vista's Control Panel, select Classic View on the left.
Open the Sound control panel and click Recording tab.
Speak into the microphone and confirm that the green bars light up.
If you don't see Stereo Mix (or "What U Hear" on some systems), right-click and check "Show Disabled Devices". This should show it.
Further help with that:
- "How to enable Stereo Mix in Vista" – Brief video tutorial by alexisviewing.
- Another video tutorial on the same thing – More in-depth and has narration, by Split10.
- "Enabling disabled sound devices in Vista" – Written guide with pictures by Godjonez.
Select Stereo Mix, then click Set Default and there should be a checkmark on it.
Open Control Panel > Classic View > Realtek HD Audio Manager.
Click the Microphone tab, and look next to Playback Volume. Check the speaker icon (it's generally disabled by default), and now, try speaking into your mic at a moderate volume.
If you've got things setup correctly, you should hear your voice coming out of the speakers because it's playing through with everything else (which will be recorded).
There, you've done it!
Quick test!
Make sure to test in a recording program such as Audacity. My fave way of doing this in a minute is:
- Play a piece of music with very clear tones that don't conflict with your voice's pitch. "Tubular Bells" is beautiful.
- Speak into the microphone, saying "Testing" and random gibberish, pausing, and then repeat it a few seconds later.
- Record yourself for about 10 seconds, stop the music so there's silence, then play the recording back to yourself.
If all went right, you should hear both yourself and the audio that was playing on your computer.
Keep in mind…
this will record everything you hear from your computer's stereo mix output. If you're in a game and you play a song in Winamp or another MP3 player, that gets recorded too.
If it ever gets too confusing to hear yourself from your speakers, either move your microphone away to where it won't be spoken into or thumped, or simply unplug it. You could also uncheck Playback Volume, but that may be a repeated inconvenience.
Happy sounding! Let me know if this helps you so I'll be encouraged to make more tutorials! 
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<3 Thank you for doing this for me. It freed up time for me to clean out one of my drives to make room for all the new video blogging clips and make a nice Sunday dinner, which is ready so come up from your office!!!
= )
So far video blogging is a lot of fun. I'm even more excited now because of the sound problems you fixed for me, you're the best.<3
Would you happen to know a way to do this on a Mac? It seems the Mac's audio subsystem just isn't setup to provide live playback of input audio, all the programs I've found use a buffer to playback the sound which means there's a delay to hear yourself speaking.
Or just use Virtual Audio Cable on Windows ($30) or WireTap Studio on the Mac ($129). Both will let you create virtual audio channels that are composites of several sources, or pipe them into pre-existing channels. This way you could have your audio-out, and microphone(s) all feed into one channel besides audio out and program your recording software to listen to that audio channel source. This is convenient in that you don't have to listen to yourself speak when you pipe the mic in over what you hear, and additionally this can support as many audio sources as you want in any configuration you want.
Virtual Audio Cable: http://tinyurl.com/3vgv7d
WireTap Studio: http://tinyurl.com/dx7u6
@Ravenelle: <3
@Kevin: What ZATZAi said, and...
@ZATZAi: Thanx for sharing! Haven't used Virtual Audio Cable in awhile, but last I did, I didn't like the UI.
I really like WireTap Studio on Mac, but it's actually US$69 (less if upgrading).
Related, see:
» http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Voice_recording
I've been using usb headsets since voice came out inworld, and always wondered why I couldn't record voice and sound at the same time. (I guess it makes sense).
I tried your steps using a 3/8" lapel mic and regular headphones, and it worked perfectly!
Guess, I'll look for a non-usb headset now.
Very good indeed!!!!! it helped me . and very good tehnique in explaining! god job!
tanks alot. i requred it very lot.
Thank you! I've tried several times to find the control to play a microphone direct and couldn't until now!
i,m afraid your solution wont work for me, since acer did something strange with the audio manager.. now what?
I cannot find the Realtek Audio! I have Vista 32 Bit, A dell Inspiron 1520, I went and downloaded it, ran the dell driver disk but nothing will work, I really need this software! Can sombody please help me?
I have this problem still, cause, when I enable the stereo mix, and go to realtek hd audio manager. and there is no playback volume option, i only have recording volume. Nothing else. PLEASE HELP
It doesnt work with a Dell Inspiron 530.
I also don't see the playback volume icon … I've done everything but it still doesn't appear … any sollutions?
Have been at this for ages with no success until i found this. THANK YOU.
you don't actually need realtek to do this in vista,
1)right click on the speaker icon in the task tray.
2)select recording devices.
3)click on the playback tab
4)double click speakers
5)go to the level tab.
6)adjust mic level, and make sure it is unmuted.
7)click ok to get out of the dialogs.
that's it.
@Ning: Like http://torley.com/how-to-record-mic-and-speakers-on-vista-with-realtek
Thanks for chiming in.
Very simple and straightforward procedure!
Believe me I browsed more than 10 forums and none provided what I was looking for… maybe my problem was simple.
Thanks a lot!!!
Now I can play guitar!
it doesnt work for me…..WAAAAAHHHHH
Dude, you are great! I wanted to record from my speakers, and I couldn't find the mixer. I thought Vista was supposed to be easier to use. Talk about 'buried'. I never would have found it without your post. On top of that, this post made it straightforward and easy. THANKS!!!!!
Hello. I am looking at your audio codec software. You have installed line inputs along with digital. You have a great array of inputs and outputs. Can I ask did this all come on a single sound card. What may I ask do you do with all the connections. I am looking to in the future set up a server home entertainment. I have my laptop connected up to my LCD throught Digi output on Realtek using HDMI connections. Do you have any knowledge on networking and home networking.. I be interested if you could share some knowledge..
It doesn't work for me to, in the step when you open Realtek HD Audio Manager and select Microphone, the Playback Volume Bar doesn't exist in my windows vista, could be because i try it on my laptop??????
I have the same problem as Mikelin: no "playback volume bar." What do I do now? Please help. Many Thanks!
Doesn't work for me too, the playback volume slider doesn't appear in the microphone tab..
Hi there,
I'm sure you are sick of hearing this but I also don't have the playback volume slider. I'm hoping you are wise and know another solution?
Followed all instructions, mic is working but still cannot hear voice thru speakers only hear music. Pls help want to record music and my voice at same time. Have 64 bit vista with the realtec speakers.
What version of Vista are you using?
I have the same problem as Mikelin: no "playback volume bar." What do I do now? Please help. Many Thanks!
Acer aspire 4920 with windows Vista
Realtek High Definition Audio
Driver Version: 6.0.1.5543
NO PLAYBACK VOLUME BAR; NO INPUT MONITOR either. Can SOMEONE PLEASE HELP. This is very frustrating. Vista is going to lose customers if it does not step up. I really need to hear myself through the speakers to record music.
Does ANYONE have a fix for this yet.. I have the same problem as everyone else. NO PLAYBACK VOLUME slider.. i have been looking, upgrading and trying everything for 2 days now.. why is this so hard??
if anyone knows anything please email me .. lukepenfold@hotmail.com
sorry but this was useless to me …as my stupid pc wont even register the brand new speedlink usb mic i bought, even tho the mic does work as if i plug speakers into the port on the mic base, it plays noises from the mic, but not anything esle, and if i put the speakers in my proper sound card the speakers work, and the mic works (tho i can only hear it thru headphones plugged into the mic not the actual speakers, and it still wont record my voice when im talking, just noises played through the normal speakers =(
any halp? plx …normally i can fix pretty much anything even with …*shudders* …vista… (apart from Halo 2 BSODs ..still cant fix that) ….but this just wont work.
rather annoying as i specifically bought a new usb mic as my sony usb hdcam which i used to use as a hq webcam / mic is officially incompatable with vista >.<
oops sorry …forgot to say, my realtek doesnt register my mic so hence doesnt show a mic tab, just digital output and digital input (which doesnt do anything no matter what i tried) but i know the mic works as if i plug headphones in i hear through it, it just wont record =(
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I had a simple recording job to do and was having trouble finding the answer. You found just the right solution for me.
hi,
i have the same problem there is NO PLAYBACK VOLUME
i just ask the manufacturer of my laptop
they said that "SOME OF THE SOUND CHIP SET DID'T HAVE THAT FUNCTION!!!!!"
and that thing is a hardware limited so notthing we can do ,so sad T-T
except go to buy addition/new sound card for your PC/Laptop
ps. my build-in sound chip set is Realtek ALC268
Thank you you are providing a real service.
thank you friend .
Hi, I seem to have quite a unuiqe problem which others arent seem to be getting, I have done everything as you have shown, my mic works perfectly, I have the play back and can hear my own voice as well as hear sounds from my computer, however nothing is allowing me to record from Stereo mix, I even downloaded Audacity in hopes it would work but no luck.
I've used several programs and none will pick up either the sound from my mic OR my computer, even though i've done everything shown and even though everything is set up and working correctly.
Am I just overlooking something or is there something else i'm missing?
I have done all connections correctly, mic working,music records, but still cannot hear my voice through mic through speakers. Music is recorded and plays back perfect but still unable to hear my voice speaking thru mic on speakers and both at one time no way. I am operating Vista on hp 4 bit. Have two speakers with sub. Both plugged into back of computer. All connections show green checks, don't know what is problem can someone help to get my voice to come thru and record as well as music at same time?
In the last picture, I do not have the Playback Volume option! I'm googling for more than a week about how to enable this, but nothing seems to work. anyone got an idea?
Finally! Why do they make it so hard to do these things? By now one would think they would have gotten things easy to use, but no.
Thank you so much for posting this up, worked fine (once I dug up all the hidden devices and made sure nothing was muted etc). (c:
hello…my computer was vista,but i was trying to follow the instruction on the site..but i was wondering that i don't have REALTEK audio manager?what im going to do..hope you can help me on this..thanks you?
Thank You…..been looking for days..I have 2 laptops, and 2 desktops. It worked on my acer laptop, but when i'm in my car I can't hear the microphone very well. I hooked laptop to car radio for sound but the music is way louder than my voice. Is it a way I can even it up? By the way the computer that it worked on had win xp, and was using ac/97 real. Can you still get that program somewhere? I might put vista on my computer to see if it work that way also.. Thank you sooo much
I also noticed that on the computers that didn't work had no mic playback option..only record
I keep adding coments hoping it will help someone. I'm doing this because i want to sing in my car with mic. I think that will be so cool. Ok the name of the laptop that it worked on was a acer travelmate c310. I was trying all my friends laptops to no avail because I know I had did it once before at a party. We just plugged the mic straight into the laptop and starting djing. It was cool. Good luck everyone…p.st. I have good sound with mic, but in car I can barely hear my voice. only when I turn volume all the way up..I use the input on my new kenwood stereo which also has a usb hookup..ok goodnite thekatna@yahoo.com
Thank you soooooo much for the Realtek advice. Worked like a charm! I can record what I hear now on Vista 64. Excellent!
I think the problem might be with usb microphones? I have no mic playback option, and I am using a usb mic. I do have a rec playback option for mic, and it records and plays back fine, but not live. This is not ideal for karaoke, of course!!!
In realtek options, there is no mic tab – and I see in the screen shots of the instruction pdf, there is a mic tab once a mic is used with the typical mic input (pink jack.) Perhaps realtek is not recognizing usb mics?
Not what I was looking for but very helpful for those that don't know this already. Just please do me a favor and edit it to reflect 3.5 MILLIMETER plug — you referenced a 3.5" plug and it was driving me nuts trying to figure out how a 3.5" hard drive related to this. Thanks.
@Christopher Now that's some great criticism. Corrected. Thank YOU.
you can get the realtek driver software at……..http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false
ok every thing work fine but now when i go to wach videos i cant hear them help please.
Hey my microphone icon\slide is gone how do i get it back???