Audacity Forum

tldr; the given db-to-linear function is incorrect, as far as I can tell. In case anyone else has a similar need for equations in the future, I'll post my findings here. The equations that work are: Using the natural log, ln, log base e: linear-to-db(x) = ln(x) / (ln(10) / 20) db-to-linear(x) = e^(x...

Steve, the simplicity of your response is a godsend after I'd been stumped for two days trying to figure this out. The equation that you've found is actually very close to where I was at based on my repeatedly going through Wikipedia's DeciBel and DeciBel Full-Scale articles; I was just having troub...

Hello, all. I'm writing a simple dynamic range compressor as an extension to Pure Data as an exercise (I'm sure that many such extensions already exist), and, although my original plan was to have it work linearly with full-scale measurements, a quick glance at Audacity's compressor opened my eyes s...

Thank you, Koz. That answered my question. From what I read, phantom power will not damage modern dynamic mics, although it can be very dangerous for ribbon mics and older models of microphone. I may very well pick up a new cord for my mic knowing this: one that's XLR at the top and 3-contact 1/4" a...

Thanks for all of the information, Koz. I actually spent all day yesterday learning about mics and connectors, and I feel a lot more confident with my terminology, but my lack of elementary electronics comprehension keeps me from completely understanding where all of the voltages are running in my a...

Steve, I've always been aware that USB cords can both transmit data and send power back to the device, but I didn't know that microphone ports have batteries and that audio cords could work in a similar way. Wild. So, again, what is the second ring on a stereo plug for? Maybe I should just look it u...

Koz, Thanks again for the information. I use an ElectroVoice stage microphone for my PC mic; it's a pretty nice, classical (dare I say, "real") microphone, and it works fine with my microphone ports. That being said, yes, the amplitude of the output is extremely low as should be expected from an una...

Thank you for your response, Koz. Although both my front and back "mic" inputs are labeled as such (microphone), they do take a stereo input. As I explained, I plugged the headphone port of my sound card into both mic ports in sequence and recorded the output: what I didn't make clear enough, perhap...

Hey there, all. I was just experimenting with the inputs of my sound-card today, and I realised that I've owned this PC for a couple of years and never knew that the two microphone inputs could record in stereo. I plugged the headphone port into a mic port, messed with the levels (turned off the mic...