Increase volume of recorded tracks

[boowho]

My audio gets recorded (from You Tube or USB record player))

But the playback volume is VERY low… What too do??

[romontschun]

(Next time) increase the recording level (see picture below)

and / or
use the “Normalize” effect /Effects → Volume and Compression → Normalize)

[boowho]

Thanks… That did the trick!!!

[boowho]

It’s not working again…

I adjusted the recording level as you suggested and it seemed to work; today it quit working. Also in the track display how can you adjust the height of the waveform? Also the the volume conttrol of the USB turntable make a difference?

[DVDdoug]

But the playback volume is VERY low… What too do??

How low?
There is a “trick” for checking the peak levels: Run the Amplify effect and it will default to whatever change is needed for “maximized” 0dB peaks. For example, if it defaults to +6dB your peaks are currently -6dB.

If you just want to check without amplifying, you can cancel the effect.

…There was an Audio-Technica USB turntable with “famously low” output.

That’s not always a bad thing… Records don’t have a fixed levels, or a fixed maximum level like CDs. If the signal from the record is to “hot” and the digital levels “try” to go over 0dB, the analog-to-digital converter inside the turntable will clip (distort). On the other hand, low digital levels aren’t a problem (1) and you can run the Amplify effect after recording.

Digital amplification is a lossless process so it doesn’t hurt the sound quality.

A lot of USB microphones without recording volume controls are “calibrated low” for the same reason… So you don’t get distortion with loud sounds.

Also the the volume control of the USB turntable make a difference?

Usually no, but there’s no harm in trying it.

My audio gets recorded (from You Tube or USB record player)

All of the popular streaming services use loudness normalization (loudness matching). They use a target loudness that ends-up lowering the volume of most tracks. The reason for that is lots of “quiet sounding” songs have maximized 0dB peaks and they can’t be boosted without clipping. The only way to volume-match everything (without clipping) is to turn-down most tracks. The target volume is a compromise and some quiet songs still remain a bit too quiet because they don’t boost them into clipping.

With records there are different issues. The process of cutting and playing a record changes the waveshape making some peaks higher and some lower. If you have a CD and a record made from the same master, the new-higher peaks on the digitized record limit how loud you can go and it won’t be as loud as the CD.

With older records,… In the analog days they didn’t have the same modern digital compression and limiting “weapons” that they now use to “win” the loudness war and modern releases tend to be louder.

(1) sometimes low levels are an indication of an acoustic or analog problem.