# Poor sound quality with FRAPS.



## tomster785 (Sep 14, 2008)

I am trying to record the games I have on highest settings. I get perfect FPS and great Video quality but the sound quality is really bassy and fuzzy. I have Realtek HD Audio is that the problem? What settings should I use to fix this if so?


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

hello, open fraps, under movies, choose for the sound use windows input, and try if that sounds better


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## tomster785 (Sep 14, 2008)

I have it set to that.


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Make sure in your sound control panel (under XP) has the Line In, Mic In unchecked. This can cause interference.


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## Perfectlife (Mar 30, 2009)

Maybe you can try E.M. Free Game Capture, cause you can set the source line(Mixer or microphone) in its UI. And hope it can help you

http://www.effectmatrix.com/Game-Capture/index.htm


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## FierceKatana (May 3, 2009)

Solution:

In your Realtek HD audio manager, under the 'default format' tab, change to a more reasonable format like 16 bit, 48,000hz (DVD Quality).

I had terrible sound quality like this in recordings for a year until I lowered this setting from 24 bit, 192,000hz (Studio Quality) to (DVD Quality) and now recordings sound just like the game. This also fixes 5.1 surround sound recording.

I guess FRAPS can only capture so many 'hz' per second, and wont even attempt 5.1 if the frequency is too high.

99% of what you hear on your PC anyways is 'DVD quality' audio or less anyways.

-FierceKatana


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## BluTurtle (Sep 1, 2008)

Hi, 

I have the same problem, but I dont know how to change the format to 16-bit. I dont see any buttons or sliders that stand out with those quality settings. How can I do so?


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## FierceKatana (May 3, 2009)

Its a Windows sounds card configuration found in control panel, not FRAPs. Dig around.


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## BluTurtle (Sep 1, 2008)

Hmm, I was checking in the HD audio manager. Fraps has maybe three settings for audio.

I just did a solid 15 minutes of looking around everything I thought was relevant in the control panel, and didn't come up with anything. where would it be more specifically?


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

Setting it any higher than 48,000hz is a waste standard speakers dont have the capacity to produce the quality needed at the high hz. 
Also games like Fallout 3, Oblivion, GTA IV, Sims 2 and others have sound issues when set higher than 24bit @ 48000hz. This can range from garbled sound to skipping sound.
To change your sound properties it should be in the same area in Vista as it is in XP.


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## BluTurtle (Sep 1, 2008)

Gah, Again I find nothing. >_______<

I've tried adapting that path to find the setting, but I hit a dead end after the sound menu. I wonder if I can even do this with XP?

Sorry to bother, but is there a more specific way through windows XP to change the setting in question?


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

I'll try to look at it tonight for ya. I also have Realtek HD but I also dual boot so I can look in XP to get something you can go from!


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## FreeNerd (Sep 16, 2009)

Is your realtek HD audio on board?

In a gaming rig try to have a PCI or PCI-E sound card. Onboard sound cards add additional stress to your CPU and can degrade gaming performance.

Recording a game while running FRAPS can put your PC under significant load. Run a performance monitor of your computer during this and see if you are maxing out anything. Running new games on max detail demands a ton of resources and recording with FRAPS causes additional hard drive I/O. It would not shock me if you are pushing your CPU a little too hard and the sound is garbling.

The suggestion of lowering your sound quality is a good one, I would do that first and if the issue persists run a performance monitor while recording in FRAPS.


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

try this
go to:
Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio devices
under device volume choose advanced
now select Options -> Properties
under adjust volume for, choose Recording
make sure that "Stereo Mix" is ticked and select OK
take a look at the Stereo Mix's Volume Slider, it shouldn't be high, set it to be on the second mark
now close the volume control and try to record again


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## BluTurtle (Sep 1, 2008)

Hmm, I've got into the stereo mix thing, but the slider is greyed out. also Would I want the slider on the second to bottom mark? or second to top.


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

I was having exactly the same problem yesterday when recording Need For Speed Shift with Fraps using onboard Realtek audio.

The sound during gameplay was fine, but the recorded sound in the video was heavily distorted, lots of bass artifacts and volume clipping. To fix it, I just went into Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices > Audio tab > Sound Recording Volume button > Options > Properties > Recording, clicked the Select box for Stereo Mix and dropped the slider down to the second lowest notch (same as Rockmaster's advice above). It now records and plays back at the correct level with no distortion.

If your Stereo Mix slider is greyed out, update or reinstall your Realtek driver, then reboot. Or you could select a different Sound Input option in Fraps (if Wave or Master are available as options).


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