arecord

NAME
arecord - An AF record client.

SYNOPSIS
arecord [-server audioserver] [-d device] [-l length] [-t time] [-silentlevel level (dB)] [-silenttime time] [-printpower] [-g gain] [-e encoding] [-B] [-L] [file]

DDESCRIPTION

arecord reads samples from the audio server and writes the data to file, or stdout if file is not specified. The file will be written in a sample format appropriate for the record device. By default, the byte order of any 16 bit data will be that of the host on which arecord is executing.

OPTIONS

-server audioserver

    Specifies which audio server to connect to in order to record the sound file. If audioserver is not specified, arecord uses the default server. See the AUDIOFILE environment variable.

-d device

    Specifies which audio device to record the sound file from. If device is not specified, arecord defaults to the first device that isn't connected to the telephone.

-l length

    length of sound data to record, specified in seconds.

-silentlevel level

    level (in dBm) below which the sound is deemed to be silent. The default value is -60

-silenttime time

    time (in seconds) of silence which will terminate the recording. The default value is 3.0.

    If either -silentlevel or -silenttime is set, then arecord will terminate recording after so many seconds of "silence".

-e ncoding

    encoding will specify the type of the data to be written to the file or standard output. Legal values are described in the audio.h header file, and may be obtained via arecord -e xxx. The -e flag simply informs the AF server of the datatype. Some encodings may fail if they are not supported by the AF server. See also aconvert(1).

-g gain

    A gain in dB can be used to attenuate or amplify the sound data prior to recording from the audio server. Many AF servers do not support client gain on record, so use with suspicion.

-printpower

    Print input power level in dBm on stderr every block (8 times a second).

-B

    Specifies that for 16 bit data, the bytes are in "Big Endian" byte order (e.g. Sparc, RIOS, PA).

-L

    Specifies that for 16 bit data, the bytes are in "Little Endian" byte order (e.g. Alpha, Intel x86, VAX).

-t time

    time can be used to adjust the audio device time at which the the arecord client begins to record the sound data. A positive value of time will begin recording time seconds in the future. If time is negative, sound data will be returned from time seconds in the past. If the time offset begins earlier than the start of the recording buffer, silence will be returned. Defaults to 0.125 seconds.

file

    arecord writes data to file in the current working directory

ENVIRONMENT

AUDIOFILE
    specifies the host and server to use.

BUGS
If you encounter a reproducible bug, please submit a problem report to (af-bugs@crl.dec.com).

SEE ALSO
AF(1), aplay(1)

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1992-1994, Digital Equipment Corporation.
See AF(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.

AUTHORS
Digital Cambridge Research Lab