I am using Audacity v3.7.4 to record music on a Win 11 PC.
My mic is a Blue Snowball with the slider switch set to 1.
I have recorded drums, bass and guitar with no issues.
When I record vocals, the output is barely audible. The recording level is almost at max and I am singing a couple of inches from the mic.
The wave is barely visible in Audacity.
There are some tips in the forum but I am wondering why the instruments were picked up but even as I sing at full volume, the vocals are not. Thank you, Mike
Of course, I don’t know how loud your instruments are relative to the vocals, but…
Most USB mics are “calibrated” with low sensitivity to minimize clipping (distortion) with loud sounds. It’s the analog-to-digital converter inside the mic that clips if you “try” to go over 0dB so it’s the analog level that should be adjusted.
The recording level is almost at max.
Why “almost” if it’s not loud enough?
You can run the Amplify effect after recording.
You can also try Windows Microphone Boost but I’m not sure if will work with a USB mic.
Some USB “podcast mics” have an analog recording volume control, and good USB audio interfaces have knobs.
Thank you for your feedback DVDdoug.
This is my first time using Audacity. I didn’t max the rec level for fear of overdriving.
The last time I was in a recording studio there was a massive sound board and we used 2" tape.
Also, I was just the musician. Now I am trying to do everything.
I will try the Amplify Effect as you suggested.
Thanks again,
Mike
Some differences between digital and analog…
Digital is hard-limited to 0dBFS (1) and it will hard-clip when you “try” to go over. But there is no tape noise so you can get-away with recording lower. Digital recording levels aren’t critical as long as you don’t clip, or record WAY too low. Pros often record at -12 to -18dB (at 24-bits) but you don’t need to leave that much headroom if your peaks are predictable.
…I think we get a little too obsessed with levels & meters.
Tape can go over 0dB and then it starts to saturate and soft-clip. And the tape record/playback equalization tends to further “soften” the clipping. It wasn’t that unusual to occasionally go “into the red”.
And of course, you wanted a hot signal to help overcome tape hiss.
(1) ADCs (recording), DACs (playback), regular (integer) WAV files, and CDs are all limited to 0dB and this should be considered the “digital maximum”. Although Audacity uses floating-point internally so you can temporarily boost the bass, or boost the volume, etc., and if the peaks go over 0dB the data isn’t actually clipped until you export, or if you play at “full digital volume” into your DAC.
P.S.
A couple more things about levels…
When you mix the audio is literally summed sample-by-sample. (And analog mixers are built-around summing amplifiers.) If your drums, guitar, and vocals all peak at the same time, they all need to average at about 33% (about -10dB).
Mixers & full-DAW applications have level controls for the individual inputs/channels plus a master level control. Unfortunately, Audacity doesn’t have a master volume control. One easy solution is to render as floating-point WAV, then re-open and run Amplify or Normalize as a separate mastering step. before exporting as your final format. That’s not bad idea anyway because it’s not easy to predict the final mix level and it’s more accurate than trying to watch the meters.
And almost all commercial recordings use compression and limiting (with make-up gain) to bring up the “loudness”. That’s normally part of mastering too IF you want to compete in the Loudness War. 