When I record vo’s in mono using Audacity 3.5.1 the recording is limited to a peak of -6.0. I need to be closer to -3.5 so that there is less processing and better ACX numbers. It happens using a Prosonus ES2 and Zoom AMS-24 usb interfaces for my Neumann TLM 103. MY work around so far has been to record in stereo because it doesn’t limit and then split to mono and discard the empty side of the recording. Anybody got any ideas?
Someone found a solution here by changing Windows to 1-channel. (I’m pretty sure you need to plug-into the left channel.)
This -6dB “problem” is a “feature”. When you record in mono with a stereo interface the signals are cut in half (-6dB) so you don’t get clipping when both channels are mixed (summed) together.
That always works! Or you can simply boost the with Amplify effect after recording. (But it’s probably better to kill the “silent” channel because it may have some slight noise.)
You always need to leave some headroom anyway because the peaks aren’t exactly predictable and you need to avoid clipping and you’ll always need to adjust the levels for an audiobook.
Low digital levels aren’t a problem. Pros often record at around -12 to -18dB. (You don’t need to leave that much headroom.) Sometimes low analog levels can be a problem or an indication of a problem, but it doesn’t hurt to turn-down the knob.
There is a link to the Audiobook Mastering Macro here. It will nail your peak and RMS levels ever time!
I have experienced the same on a Focusrite scarlet solo. We did some debugging into this, and it appears driver-dependent: For me, it only happens when you record in MME as the host, it doesn’t happen when recording with the host set to WASAPI.
I couldn’t change the setting inside windows. It was either greyed out or only had the “2 channel” option. However when using the zoom AMS-24 interface, just setting it to streaming solved the problem. Thanks for all the suggestions. Apparently The Prosonus can be set to mono as well although I haven’t tried it.
I have a macro that will do everything I need to get to ACX standards, thanks .
Thanks! solved it in the AMS-24 by setting to streaming.