I am new to Audacity, and have installed 2.0.3 via the online .exe from the Audacity website. I am running Windows 7 on my upper end homebuilt PC. My just purchased Bellari VP530 phono preamp with mini USB out, has an output level adjustment that not only seems to affect my RCA outs for, but also the USB out. Is it more desirable to set this level low and use Audacity’s input level adjustment to achieve the proper decibel level for recording? It seems that with my Bellari set at midpoint in the range of adjustment, that that input level from the preamp gives me very little range of control using the Audacity level control. I have been reading up on all the features of Audacity, and there is one for unpinning the input signal level toolbar and then stretching the window to increase the accuracy of the meter readings. I am interested in the best quality input signal that can be achieved given the two sources of control available to me. Any help would be appreciated.
Make a note of your current sound system settings and then try selecting “DirectSound” as “host” in the Device Toolbar and enabling both “Exclusive Mode” boxes in Windows “Sound”.
This should give Audacity access to the audio data directly, without intermediate processing by the audio engine and without mixing in of other outputs.
If this works correctly then the recording level control in Audacity will probably become (correctly) disabled and the recorded volume will be entirely controlled by the hardware control. I think that should give the best quality, but do test it thoroughly as some computers can have compatibility problems when using DirectSound. If it doesn’t work correctly Audacity will probably not record at all, in which case you will need to change back to your original settings.