I have Windows 7 and Audacity 2.02.
I wish to record a podcast but can only do it using the computer’s inbuilt microphones so the sound is very poor quality. I have tried every other option I can think of in the “Preferences” but no recording results despite Audacity input level meter showing good levels of sound.
If I record from my USB source, once again the input level meter shows strong volume but the resultant recording is barely audible.
For years I have used Audacity for recording from various sources and had no problems problems but this is on a new computer. I have uninstalled and re-installed Audacity but still can’t record.
In my computer’s “Sound Settings” “Recording” the “Stereo Mix” is the default device and my Line 2 USB Audio is ready
Playback has “Speakers/Headphones” as default device.
I see the following options in Audacity “Preferences” “Devices”.
HOST - MME or Windows Direct Sound
Playback Device - Speakers/headphones - or Microsoft Sound Mapper- or Comminication Headphones (IDT - or Primary Sound Driver
Recording Device - Microsoft Sound Mapper - or Stero Mix (IDT High Definition - or Integrated Microphone Array (ID - or Microphone (IDT High Definition - or Primary Sound Capture.
It’s always something of a leap to convince people that if they have blue waves on the timeline and the green sound meters are jumping to the appropriate level that they have a good show whether or not they can hear it.
We take it upside down from you. Does your show look anything like this?
Peaks up between -10 and -1. Nice blue waves at least to the 0.5 mark, either direction.
Some USB microphones habitually deliver weak-sister signals when used normally. This is intentional because you can cure low levels, but overload and smashing of loud sound is immediately destructive and permanent.
When you play a sound performance in Audacity, it’s subject to the playback volume in the tool bar. Is that turned up when you play your show?
My main isue today is that I can not record podcasts playing on my computer. However I also found that my trusty USB device (Inport) also won’t produce a normal level wave file.
I have used Audacity for many years but never before had these problems.
Re the USB source, I record audio from a tape deck via an amplifyer using “Inport” connected to a USB port.
When attempting to record anything today, the input levels displayed are mostly around -6 to -12.
When playing the resultant wave file, my output volume is always maximum - but the resultant recording is extremely quiet. If I amplify the track, it needs to be increased by about 27db.
If I record using " Stereo Mix" as the recording device, the volume of the recording is depenent on the volume setting of my speakers (inbuilt ) but even when it is playing loudly, only a feeble wave signal results. On my previous computer, speaker volume did not ever seem to affect the recordings.
I attach an image of one moment during a recording and it shows the pathetic wave file of two recordings I made.
Cheers.
Good. -6 dB on the meter is +0.5 on the waveform and -12 dB is +0.25. You should see those waves in the Audacity waveform.
On Windows 7, each program that creates sound has it its own volume slider. Have you got Audacity turned down in the Windows Volume Mixer? To check, right-click over the speaker icon by the system clock > Open Volume Mixer.
Do you mean you exported that recording as a WAV? Audacity would not let you amplify a recording with a peak of -6 dB by 27 dB (unless you checked the “Allow Clipping” box).
Are you recording what you intend to record (however quietly) , or only noise?
Re "“Good. -6 dB on the meter is +0.5 on the waveform and -12 dB is +0.25. You should see those waves in the Audacity waveform”
Answer: The waves are there but very small.
Re " On Windows 7, each program that creates sound has it its own volume slider. Have you got Audacity turned down in the Windows Volume Mixer? To check, right-click over the speaker icon by the system clock > Open Volume Mixer"
Answer: The slider is on maximum.
Re " Do you mean you exported that recording as a WAV? Audacity would not let you amplify a recording with a peak of -6 dB by 27 dB (unless you checked the “Allow Clipping” box).
Answer: While the input level displayed is around -6 to -12, the wave file is almost a flat line - see the original image I posted. It is this very quiet wave file which audacity amplified by 27db to make a normal volume wave file with no clipping. This amplification is what Audacity displays as the default when “amplify” is clicked. I didn’t actually export any files as I am still attempting to make a good recording.
I have checked all the settings and they all seem to be OK. Having to play the sound on the computer at maximum volume in order to get a reasonably useable wave file is annoying. With every volume control on maximum, the resultant recording is still low volume and requires amplification of 16db to have the wave file expand so it almost fill the tracks in Audacity.
To repeat, if a signal shows at -6 dB on the meter, it shows as 0.5 on the Waveform scale at that point. To demonstrate this, Generate > Tone with amplitude 0.5 then look at the green playback meter.
Is the Audacity input slider in Mixer Toolbar on maximum?
Your image does not show where the track is recording at the time. It looks to me as if you have a noise level of about -30 dB (which will show as about 0.05 on the waveform) with some peaks at -27 dB or a bit higher. This is understandable, but a meter reading of -6 dB and a waveform reading of -0.05 is not.
Are you actually selecting the stereo mix choice in Audacity’s Device Toolbar? You might expect to see the result you have if you are recording computer playback from the internal mic.
Are you actually playing the audio you want to record on the IDT inbuilt device? What is the “Line 2 USB device” exactly? If you are playing audio to that, you cannot record it with IDT stereo mix.
You can also pull the headphones or speakers from audio out if you don’t want to hear anything while recording stereo mix.
What computer playback are you recording? If you are recording from a flash player in a web browser. you have to turn the volume on the flash player up (as well as the player’s slider in Windows Volume Mixer).
Also exactly how are you listening to the audio? To get decent volume and quality you need to connect high quality speakers or headphones to audio out.
I believe the problemis is solved now - apart from one minor question (below).
Thanks for all the advice.
So you better understand what I have been doing, I have been recording podcasts of past programs from an FM radio station via its web site.
On occasions I also make digital copies of cassette tapes or LPs. I play them through an amplifier, feed its audio to a USB interface device (“Inport” brand), which converts the signal and sends it to the computer via a USB lead .
I think the main problem has been that with my new Windows 7 computer, the volume being sent to Audacity seems to have a fixed link to the volume for the computer’s speakers.
I cannot find a way to adjust the speaker volume without also changing the input level to Audacity.
Re your comment “You can also pull the headphones or speakers from audio out if you don’t want to hear anything while recording stereo mix.”
I couldn’t see how to do that. Perhaps you could explain?
Anyway, while recording I do like to listen to the audio at a normal level and not have it blasting through the speakers at a high level.
I have found that after making sure all settings are correct, increasing the computer’s volume setting to maximum results in a satisfactory recording - but the sound coming from the computer’s speakers is too loud.
As I like to hear what is being recorded but at a normal volume, I have devised a solution.
I plug in an independent amplifier & speakers to the computer’s microphone jack (to disconnect the computer’s inbuilt speakers) and adjust the volume playing through the external speakers at the amplifier.
This was never necessary with XP or Vista computers & earlier versions of Audacity.
Unless someone has a better way of achieving this I guess I will just have to use this method.
When recording “Stereo Mix” you are recording the sound that is playing through the sound card, so changing the playback level should and does change the level of the recording. To record “at full volume” the playback needs to be “at full volume”. This is not a problem if the speakers have a separate volume control (as with your external amp).
If you were using headphones or speakers connected to “audio out” (assuming you had separate “audio out” and “mic in” ports) then you would not hear any audio from any source at all if you could configure the sound device to only play through the headphones. That doesn’t mean muting the speakers and headphones as that will mean stereo mix won’t record anything, but in some sound card control panels you can configure the sound device to route audio to only the audio out, or to route audio to both audio out and the internal speakers at the same time.
It would not be necessary with XP because there was a “Master” volume slider independent of the “Wave” volume slider. Only the “Wave” slider determined the level stereo mix recorded from.
It would have been necessary with Vista as it has the same sound system as Windows 7, unless the sound device on the Vista computer happened to have higher recording levels which meant that you could record a decent input level without a high output level.
The Audacity version is not relevant.
Another solution is to use a program that grabs the audio digitally before it reaches the sound card, which thus does not depend on the audio level at all. But Audacity cannot do that. SoundLeech should be able to do that, though it is sometimes variable in my experience as to whether it will record muted sound (or any sound) or not.
Otherwise, to get a program that grabs audio digitally you will probably have to accept browser toolbars (Freecorder) or pay for the program.
