Level Adjustment?

Just got a new decent mixer at long last!, however when doing recording from drum machine/TD3 etc, it all really topping out?? and sounds bad on listening back- adjusted the mixer as much as i can and sounds fine in headphones etc, what am i doing wrong?? Thanks!

How is the mixer connected to the computer?

…The mic input on a laptop or soundcard is “wrong”. The analog line-output to line-in (blue) on a regular soundcard is OK or a mixer with a USB output should be OK.

its USB from mixer into the Mac

comes up with USB Codec in the Audi set up/recording device

Make sure Windows “enhancements” are turned OFF. They can foul-up the recording in all kinds of strange ways.

The digital levels usually track the meters on the mixer and it’s PROBABLY NOT a problem with recording level… Does Audacity “show red” for clipping?

Leave plenty of headroom. There’s no need to get close to 0dB. You can run the Amplify effect after recording.

I am on Mac mate

where do i adjust this “headroom”

On your mixer. Make sure the meters aren’t hitting 0dB.

What’s the mixer? Most mixers have some method, flashing lights, color changes, something to tell you the sound volume.

With drums, you could be overloading the microphone side of the mixer. Drums are hard.

Select five or ten seconds of damaged sound, export it as WAV (Microsoft) and post it here. The file upload icon is the heavy sideways bar with up arrow.

Koz