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How to automatically record

Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 9:30 pm
by thetalk
I’ve gathered some info from this website and other websites, and have turned a mostly-idle computer in my office to an internet radio recorder. I have it save the mp3 files in a Dropbox folder, so the recordings of my radio shows magically just show up on my phone!

I will detail the steps I use here, and hopefully others will be able to use and modify the procedure to fit their recording needs. Basically there are three steps to record: Open the browser, start the Goldwave recording, and close the browser. I’ll also detail an annoying quirk that I simply can not figure out!

How I record radio shows with Goldwave:

( 1 ) Install Goldwave. Register license. Make sure Lame encoder is working.

( 2 ) Make sure Autosave is on, and set Goldwave to record the LOOPBACK speakers.

( 3 ) Use a text editor like Notepad to create a batch file. I named mine “record.bat” It contains the following lines of code that I found in this Goldwave forum in a different post. Credit to the original poster! My radio show is one hour long, and the first 5 minutes are always commercials and junk, so I have the file “blank.mp3” as a 55-minute mp3 file of nothing but silence.

setlocal
set x=1
:loop
if not exist %x%.mp3 goto record
set /a x=%x%+1
goto loop
:record
copy blank.mp3 %x%.mp3
dir
dir
"C:\Program Files\GoldWave\Goldwave.exe" -nosplash -record -close %x%.mp3

( 4 ) Use your text editor to make another batch file that will open a browser to the radio station you want to record. I named mine “openweb.bat” I’ve found iheartradio seems to work pretty consistently, but it may be tricky (or maybe even impossible) to get other websites to automatically play what you want to record without someone manually clicking a PLAY button or something like that. (Note the “?autoplay=true” at the end of the URL below.) If I have problems with one browser not cooperating, I just change the default browser in Windows to another one (type “default apps” in the Windows search bar to find where to set this up). The following single line of code in a the batch file will open the default browser and start playing KFI out of Los Angeles on the iheartradio website.

start https://www.iheart.com/live/kfi-177/?autoplay=true

( 5 ) Again use the text editor to make a batch file to close your browsers. I called mine “closebrowsers.bat” The code in the following batch file will close any of the listed browsers:

cls
taskkill /F /IM opera.exe /T
taskkill /F /IM firefox.exe /T
taskkill /F /IM iexplore.exe /T
taskkill /F /IM chrome.exe /T
taskkill /F /IM MicrosoftEdge.exe /T
exit

( 6 ) You now have a batch file to open the browser. And a batch file to start the recording (which will automatically stop and save itself when done). And you have a batch file to close the browser. You can use Windows Task Scheduler to run the batch files at the appropriate times (Google search for how to do this). Instead of using the task scheduler, I use an alarm clock program called “Banshee Screamer” to run the batch files at the appropriate days and times.

Pro tip: I use a program called “Volume2” to automatically lower the volume (even mute the volume) before the recording starts. It doesn’t affect the volume of the recording. Sometimes I would come back to my office and the show was playing super loud! Volume2 can also raise the volume back to normal after the recording in case I needed the sound for something else important. Now I just unplug the speakers from that system completely.

Another pro tip: I was annoyed when the computer would switch back to the log in screen after 30 minutes of being idle. It still seemed to record without a problem, but if I was near the computer I liked to look over and visually confirm that Goldwave was recording. I found a program called “TinyTask” which will record keyboard and mouse actions. Start recording your actions, jiggle the mouse, wait about 10 minutes, jiggle the mouse again, and stop recording your actions. Then set it to “continuous play” and it will simulate a mouse jiggle every 10 minutes and keep the computer screen on.

That’s it! I record “Handel on the Law” on KFI on Saturdays from 11am to 2pm Eastern Time zone by recording at 11:05am, 12:05pm, and 1:05pm. I used to make one big file, but having three separate files allows me to start listening to the first hour (on my phone or another computer) as soon as it’s done. Plus, if there happens to be a glitch when recording one of the files, I may potentially get the other two files intact.

Now for the quirk: When the computer gets rebooted, the automatic recording will ALWAYS fail. So, when it is time for the show, the volume will lower. Then the browser will open. Then Goldwave will open, but it will pop up the message that “Autosave” must be set to on for the filename feature to work. Autosave is on! If I click on the batch file to record, it WILL work without a problem. When the timer runs the very same batch file, it fails. Even if you manually click on the batch file several times and confirm that it works, it will still fail with the timer! I even tried creating another batch file that opened the recording batch file so the timer was not directly opening the recording batch file, and it still failed!

How to fix the quirk: Open a browser and play a radio station so Goldwave will have something to record. Set an automatic recording for a minute or two away. It will open and fail and give you the autosave notice. Close Goldwave. Again set an automatic recording for a minute or two away. It will probably open and fail again. Keep repeating this procedure. After three, or four, or twelve times, it will start working, and will continue to work for all subsequent timer recordings. I totally promise that no setting has changed! It just starts working at some point. I just can't figure out what could be causing that.

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 12:22 pm
by GoldWave Inc.
That is an odd quirk. When it happens, is a new file created or does it record in the file specified? The error suggests that recording started before the file is opened (and no filename is available).

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 12:53 pm
by thetalk
Yes, I think you're right about the order. It's very odd. I even tried putting in sleep delays in batch files, and still the same. I'll try to get a screenshot of it next time it happens (Obviously I try not to reboot that computer). The Goldwave message says something like "Autosave must be active for this... " and I think it has three buttons. One button to turn on autosave (which I haven't tried because I know it already on), and a button that says "Don't use autosave", and of course a button to cancel. There is also a box open asking me to name the file. I usually hit cancel, and Goldwave and the command prompt window go away. Sometimes I'll type in a file name, and it will start recording. Maybe Goldwave could have a short delay between copying/renaming the file, and staring to record? But it works once it starts working, so I suspect it's a Windows thing. I love Goldwave! You know what, once I'm allowed back in my office I'll try to do some more troubleshooting, and see if I can repeat the problem on another system. I don't know what causes it, but I can assure you that it is very consistent, and not my imagination. It's repeatable, and it will fail on the first several attempts, even if it was rebooted days prior. Thank you!

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:44 pm
by noexit
While on the topic of Automatically Record, is there a way to have specify from the command line which Recording Device Goldwave will use for a specific recording? I have a set of batch files for automated recording of a couple of weekly radio programs and I'd like to specify which recording device to use in the batch file in case the default has been changed in the program. The laptop I use has a built in audio device and also an external USB audio device.

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2020 11:21 am
by GoldWave Inc.
There isn't a way to specify the recording device on the command line directly. You could create multiple portable installations (see the manual for details) so that each instance of GoldWave has it's own settings, then run the instance for the device you want to record.

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:43 pm
by Jolanxbl
Goes Goldwave save its settings to an external file? Could just rename the config you want to use before starting GW

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:38 am
by GoldWave Inc.
You could try that. The "portable installation" section in the manual provides details about the settings file. However in that case you could have multiple instances of GoldWave trying to use the same (but different version) of the setting file. Keeping each instance in a separate folder would be more stable.

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2021 1:51 pm
by Dolly
Hi all.
Wow. You are so much more sophisticated than I am on this
I just want to record a Zoom conversation for someone else's meeting I'm attending later today. (Otherwise, I would just record in Zoom).
Can I just open Goldwave and push a button to "record"?
I don't find this in the manual, or anywhere in the forum.
Would someone give me steps - if this is possible? (It should be, right? I have a friend who does this with Audacity, so if not, I'll just download a free copy of that program, too).
Please let me know?! I chose GW because it has more bells and whistles - now I think I've just reached my own Peter Principle and revealed the level of my own incompetence. :lol:
Thanks!
Dolly

Re: How to automatically record

Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:53 pm
by GoldWave Inc.
Recording a voice call or video call can be tricky because the voice/video software is using the same audio hardware to record as GoldWave. If you enable the "Listen" setting on the microphone device (click here for details), then you should be able to use the LOOPBACK device in GoldWave for recording both sides of the conversation.