Loss of mic volume with change to Win10

Hi all … I have a regular contributor to my pod who records his segment on his Win 7 computer and then e-mail sit to me for inclusion. For the last several years, this system has worked very well.

This year, though, he has a new computer with Win 10 OS. He’s using the same setup otherwise: a Samson C01U USB mic, plugged into a USB port and then selected from the pulldown in Audacity. The problem is that where he used to be getting perfect, solid mic levels, he now has the volume slider up to full and still is getting really low mic levels, requiring 13 to 20 dB of amplification.

Anybody got any ideas what’s going on—and, more importantly, how to fix it?

Check the recording settings in the Windows Sound Control Panel.

Ensure that he has the microphone the right way round (the Samson C01U looks pretty similar from the front and the back, but picks up much less well from the back).

Some Windows had a Microphone Boot feature that may have to be turned on. Also in the Windows setups.

Koz