I cannot get the volume as high as I used to?

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Hi all,

I am sorry, I need your sage advice again as this one has me baffled.

I am using version 2.05 and have been since it was released. I have not changed Audacity at all. I am using MME, Speakers (VAI High Definition Audio), Stereo mix (VAI High Definition Audio) and 2 (Stereo) Input.

I have the volume set at 100% and input at 100%.

Some time ago, something happened - Perhaps an install? And I had to move the speaker volume up to 90% from 80%. Then last night I installed Video-to-Video and solveig Video Splitter. Then as I tried to close the system down, Microsoft installed an update, saying it was for DVD Playback: http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/3001554

Now today I cannot get the volume up high enough to record properly as I had done. In desperation I got it high enough by setting the volume to 100%, but it was distorted on playback (at all volume settings). Instead I dropped the volume back down to 90% and set the VIA Audio Deck setting for the equalizer to increase EVERY band by 6dB. This gets the recording level back to where it seems best (peaks reaching but not exceeding +/- 0.9) and playback seems fine.

This is on an Asus ROG laptop G75VW running Windows 7 x64 Ultimate. It has 5.1 audio (yes, amazed me on a laptop as well).

Since the only changes I can think of recently are Video-to-Video, solveig Video Splitter and MS KB001554, I have checked their settings. Video–to-Video has volume set to 100%, Solveig does not seem to have a volume setting as such, just “mute” (which is off). I use Daum Pot Player for videos - Also now has volume set to 100%, as is Windows Media Player also.

So everything is pretty much maxed out, but still something last night seems to be reducing the audio by about 6dB now. Has anyone else had problems since the MS update? Does anyone else know what the problem could be? The problem has affected the ACTUAL volume level, until I increased the volume by 6dB on all bands of the equalizer, the computer was noticeably quieter today.

  1. When I open the Volume Mixer, there are three tied volumes - Speakers, System Sounds and Internet, all are set at 90%.

  2. Playback Devices has Disabled and Disconnected devices ticked - Speakers on here seems to often be hitting the top of the green bar at 100%, like the speakers are being driven into maximum, only they are not - Could something be over-driving them because it is getting confused over 5.1 / stereo?

  3. Recording Devices also has show disabled and disconnected devices ticked. The small green level meter displayed on here is showing peak of only about 80% on Stereo mix, and the microphone is disabled

  4. Volume control options - Select which devices show their own volume control - The default device will always show it’s own volume control. All devices currently playing sound is ticked, but the 4 boxes for sound devices (Nvida HDMI Output Port 1, Speakers (VIA High Definition Audio), SPDIF Interface (TXD) and Nvida HDMI Output Port 0) are not ticked.

Please, any ideas what I am overlooking, or doing wrong? - Has something installed it’s own hidden volume control? Is MS KB3001554 doing something odd? Or is something incorrectly interpreting the 5.1 / Stereo issue incorrectly?

Thanks for any advice!

2

Are you talking about the “recording level” (that is, the size of the waveform in the recorded track), or the “playback volume” (how loud it sounds when you play back the recording)?

If the latter, please try playing a previously recorded track - does that also play more quietly?

What about other application? Do they sound quieter too?

3

Thank you very much for your questions!

  1. Both the recording level and the playback volume were significantly lower until I raised everything by 6dB in the equalizer to compensate.

  2. Sorry, it had not occurred to me to play back a previous recording. The size of the waveform is normal on the display and the volume is the usual - However I have boosted the equalizer by 6dB, so that suggested that the playback volume is lower as well. I went into the VIA HD Audio to turn it off and it is off already. That means the problem has “gone”, even though it had persisted through several reboots. I have changed NOTHING since I was testing everything out for my post, when the problem was most definitely there!

OK, I am very relieved the problem has gone (at least for now?) But since it persisted through reboots, what could possibly have caused it? Since I have changed nothing at all, I checked the MS update history and it is saying the DVD update was installed on the 1st of October - It had been installed the day before. So just possibly there has been a revised patch issued by MS? If anyone else experiences a sudden drop in sound level (both recorded and playback), it might be worth your while uninstalling MS KB001554, rebooting and reinstalling it. It might be that there was something screwy with the original patch? It is the only thing I can think of that seems to have changed. This is weird, troubling and annoying as it wasted most of my morning trying to track down a gremlin in the works…

Thank you for your help!

4
  1. Both the recording level and the playback volume were significantly lower until I raised everything by 6dB in the equalizer to compensate…

…3. Recording Devices also has show disabled and disconnected devices ticked. The small green level meter displayed on here is showing peak of only about 80% on Stereo mix, and the microphone is disabled

Let’s start with the recording. 80% is fine.

You can boost the volume of the file after recording. In Audacity, use the Amplify effect and it will default to whatever adjustment is needed for 0dB peaks. This is known as “normalizing” or sometimes “maximizing” and that’s as loud as you can go* without clipping (distortion) or non-linear processing such as compression & limiting.

For playback, Maybe something happened to your speakers. Most computer speakers have their own volume control, is it turned-up. Or, are you using your laptop’s built-in speakers with no physical/analog volume control?

Loudness is complicated. You can maximize the peaks of a particular file and it won’t necessarily be as loud as other tracks. Our ears don’t respond instantly to peaks so it’s not unusual to have a quiet song with maximized peaks. Perceived loudness is more related to the average (or RMS) level as well as the frequency content. The peak level correlates very poorly with loudness.

But with a “normal” setup you should be able to get reasonably loud even with “quiet” songs.

…and MS KB001554

I don’t know what that update is, but there is a slight possibility that something’s changed with the audio. The EU has output-voltage limits to comply with headphone/earphone loudness regulations. Maybe there was an update to make it compliant???

and set the VIA Audio Deck setting for the equalizer to increase EVERY band by 6dB.

If nothing else works, that may be the only solution, but boosting EQ can also introduce distortion. And, usually the frequency response won’t be flat even though all of the sliders are increased equally.





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  • Audacity can go over 0dBFS, but your analog-to-digital converter (recording), digital-to-analog converter (playback), and regular WAV files are hard-limited to 0dB.