Im having trouble with the sound recorder app, so I tried arecord a.wav
the recording sound is terrible.... I read the man page but did not see any provisions to change the sound recording parameters. How can I record s sound in ubuntu mate 18.04, or improve the quality of arecord?
2 Answers
You can significantly change the audio quality using -f
/--format
(format name) for example (see man page):
arecord -vv --format=cd file.wav
Will record a snippet in "CD" quality (finish with Ctrl + C when done).
-f
cd is format shortcut for (16 bit little endian, 44100, stereo) where default format is (Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono).
Some other examples:
arecord -vv -f=cd --duration=10 file.wav # Same but with a fixed duration of 10 seconds
arecord -vv -f=cd --file-type raw | lame -r - file.mp3 # Record and save it as mp3
arecord --list-devices # List all sound cards and digital audio devices
Audacity audio editor has configurable output sound quality in Edit -> Preferences. Audacity can be installed in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu with the following command:
sudo apt install audacity
Audacity is designed for easy recording, playing and editing of digital audio. Supported file formats include Ogg Vorbis, MP2, MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, and AU.