noob problem mic is too sensitive

audacity is recording everything … even when i breath super silent

i went to preferences → recording and changed the db silder but it only seems to work when you enable
“sound activated recording”

how can i change the mic sensitivity without “sound activated recording” ?

With the recording-slider …

https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/mixer_toolbar.html

but this only changes how loud my recording is

i want that audacity only records when i speak at acertain volume

See Sound Activated Recording on this page: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/recording_preferences.html

WC

There’s another mic slider in Windows recording devices …
mic level siders in Windows.png