mic records too quiet in mono[SOLVED]

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi. I have a sticky problem, I’m hoping someone here can help me with. It’s not strictly related to Audacity, but…

The issue is as such: I have a win7 machine, with an external mono mic, connected via XLR cables to an old audiobuddy preamp. When I select ‘Listen to this device’ from the Windows mixer’s Properties panel, I can hear myself fine, with gain set to about 25%. However, when using other applications, I get extremely low volumes.

So I opened Audacity, as an impromptu diagnostic tool (an old version, 1.3beta, iirc. That shouldn’t be relevant). Recording in it, I found that tapping right on the mic (which would clip when set to ‘listen’) would max out at about -50dB, just BARELY high enough to hear through my cans.

At some point, I tried clicking on ‘2 (stereo) input channels’ option. Voila! The problem went away. It sounded great…

Unfortunately, that only applies to software that allows you to select the recording channels. Teamspeak still barely registers any audio at all, and offers no options that seem to apply. I would ask for assistance there, but after nearly a dozen google searches, I found very few reports that sounded even remotely similar. I’m hoping that the community here might have a better chance at a solution than on the Teamspeak forum. Many thanks for any assistance with this frustrating issue.


I also had a funny occurance, which I only mention because it makes me curious: At some point, my windows mixer settings was set to default 44khz sample rate, and I got a dreadful oscillation in my output from the preamp. High freq. noise, harmonics, all about the same level as the mic signal. I’d gotten to the point that I thought my preamp failed, and had taken it apart. I narrowed it down to an unstable op amp circuit in the output section. If I put my finger on the hot chip (a JRM4560ld, fyi) the frequency would vary greatly from the temperature change my finger provided. However, when i set my recording to 48khz, or higher, it would go away completely. Weird! Just curious if anyone can explain this…

2

Have you tried right-click over the speaker icon by the system clock > Recording Devices. Right-click over the line-in > Properties. Then click the “Advanced” tab. Does it help to choose a “stereo” option under Default Format?


Gale

3

‘2 channel, 16 bit, 48000hz’

There are no mono options listed, thanks for the suggestion though.

4

Are you keeping ‘Listen to this device’ checked (on) when you record in TeamSpeak?

What is your objective? To record TeamSpeak conversations?

Do you have a second mic or some other input you can connect to the second channel of the preamp?

Do you still have Audio Buddy set to 48000 Hz?



Gale

5

No, ‘Listen’ isn’t usually on. Listening to my own voice with the delay is intolerable. :slight_smile:

My objective is to have a working mic in applications that only are programmed for ‘mono’ audio sources. I have the latest drivers for my onboard chip, as well as Teamspeak ver., so I hope there is some other option that will allow that.

Other mics? Not at the moment, no.

The audio buddy is a purely analog device; however it’s windows mixer default format is 48000 Hz.


At this point, I don’t even know how it could be fixed. A different dll backend for teamspeak, if such a thing exists? Or a driver layer somewhere that could properly remix the stereo signal into a mono one. I don’t know if that’s possible, though it seems that it should be.
Maybe I’ll just have to dish out for a real soundcard. :neutral_face: I was hoping I was overlooking something dumb, easy fix.

6

I assume the issue to be that you are only recording one side of a stereo signal.

Given the main program where this impacts you is TeamSpeak, perhaps you should ask them?



Gale

7

external mono mic, connected via XLR cables to an old audiobuddy preamp.

My guess? You fed a balanced mono audio signal into the stereo connection of your computer. This would give you a stereo signal inside the computer with the left and right out of phase.

If you mix that down to mono, the signal would vanish.

This is typical of the type of adapter you would need to connect to the computer.

If the 1/8" end of the cable has any more rings on it than that, that’s probably where your signal is going. For example, if this is what your 1/8" looks like, then it’s the wrong adapter.


Koz

8

Woohoo!!

So, I stuck a ‘mono’ adapter on the stereo patch cord between preamp and pc, and now I get signal on the left channel only. So now, Teamspeak works!

Yay for dumb fixes!

Thanks Koz! That was the ticket…

9

If you have grown-up microphones and sound system but laptop computers, you run into this a lot. I’m a minor deity sometimes for knowing how to get back and forth. Computer interface is not for the easily frightened.
Koz