How can I record the sound output with gtk-recordmydesktop?

I am using gtk-recordmydesktop to record the video output to my desktop. However, the videos have no sound. All the tutorials I found regarding this involved getting sound recorded from a microphone, while I am interested in getting the sound output recorded. How can I do this? The official FAQ says “The solution is in your mixer’s settings. Keep playing with it ;).” which doesn’t clarify anything.

How can I get the sound output recorded, while being able to hear it myself also?

Answers:

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Method 1

I managed to get it going with the steps on the Ubuntu Forums, for clarity here is what I did:

1. sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop pavucontrol
2. Opened the Pulse Audio Volume Control dialog: Applications > Sound & Video > PulseAudio Volume Control
3. Opened gtk-recordmydesktop
4. In gtk-rmd advanced preferences, “Sound” tab, set “Device” to pulse
5. In gtk-rmd start a recording
6. In Volume Control goto the Recording tab and change the recordmydesktop entry to ‘Monitor of ‘

This is what seems to have worked for me.

Method 2

All I had to do was change DEFAULT to pulse in by: Advanced button > Sound tab > Device:.

Method 3

If you use Pulseaudio, there is a howto in the Ubuntu Wiki. It basically boils down to using the pulse audio mixer, to re-route the sound from its source to audacity where it is saved instead of the default output (which would be you speakers).

Method 4

I had to use these settings in pavucontrol:

Configuration > Built-in Audio > Profile > Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input

Then it recorded the sound that was playing

Method 5

The sound is not recording due to low input level. You can fix this from here:

• Go to sound application of settings. Then in there you will see input option adjacent to output.
• You have just to increase the level of input from zero to approx 35-40%. This is the best level as experienced by me.
• Now again go to recordMyDesktop app and start your recording.

It will work fine(at least it worked for me).

Method 6

Changing my sound card device to “pulse” did not work. When I changed it to “default”, it worked.

Debian, kernel 4.9.0-8-amd64
from lspci -v:
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller (rev 09)         Subsystem: Lenovo Broadwell-U Audio Controller
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 48
    Memory at e1230000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: <access denied>
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
    Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel

Method 7

Vokoscreen workaround

This is the first thing I got working on Ubutu 20.04:

sudo apt install vokoscreen
vokoscreen

Then go to the audio settings and enable all pulse devices:

After that it just worked, captured both computer output and my voice on the microphone.

Kazam workaround

Kazam has a “Sound from speakers” checkbox that just worked on Ubuntu 20.04:

sudo apt install kazam
kazam

Unfortunately the video recording was bugged on Ubuntu 20.04: https://github.com/hzbd/kazam/issues/9

Method 8

This is an old question, but here it is for Mint 17.2:

1. Open “Sound Preferences” -> “Input”
2. Choose “Monitor of $YOUR_USUAL_OUTPUT_DEVICE”
3. Record normally in gtk-rmd

This way you can avoid having the input switch recorded in the video.

Just remember to switch it back when you’re done!

Method 9

This setting works for me. Choose Monitors in the Show: in Input Devices

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0