Record level using Behringer UCA-202

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Hi Koz, or any one else come to that, I have bought myself a Behringer UCA-202 as advised to transfer my vinyl into iTunes. Have tried it and am definitely getting stereo now! As noted in the Audacity notes, one cannot adjust the record volume. I have tried recording a few tracks and the playback volume is ‘alright’ (just about) but it isn’t as high as my other stuff on iTunes. The Audacity manual says “(not tested with any optional drivers)”. Has anyone tried optional drivers? I had a quick look at the Behringer website but it wasn’t apparent to me that there were any optional drivers. I am just trying to find out if any one has any OPEX on this or shall I just go ahead and use the system as is? Cheers, Gordon

2

It should sound perfect. Are the blue waves reasonable — peaks at about 50% or so and the red recording meters at -6dB give or take? That’s where they’re supposed to be. Vinyl transfers are not supposed to directly compete with screaming loud commercial music products or iTunes downloads. Your vinyl was probably pressed decades before MP3 became popular and the Loudness War was just a concept in a boardroom somewhere.

You will find as I did that even vinyl has variations in volume. I transferred my sister’s 45s and I was surprised at the variation. Slightly low volume is a minor inconvenience, but too loud and overload is fatal. That’s why a very common complaint about USB microphones is that they’re weak and don’t get loud enough. People are expecting perfect, intense, studio processed voice tracks (probably because that’s what it says in the advert and on the box the mic came in).

There are several Audacity filters and tools you can apply in post production. You will no doubt want to get rid of the worst of the cat hair clicks and pops. There is a pop remover we like that’s money-based, but apparently mops the floor with other applications. While you’re taking the cat hairs out, you can adjust the level.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/sample_workflow_for_lp_digitization.html

Hmmmm. Apparently, we didn’t think to put the money-based product in the list. I’ll see if I can find it.

Koz

3

It’s at the bottom.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/sample_workflow_for_lp_digitization.html#alternative

Koz

4

Thanks for your really rapid response, Koz. You have reassured me. My recording is about -6db yes. I just wanted to make sure what the standard procedure was before I invest too much time doing more transferrals. It probably isn’t worth my while going that one step further with that additional ‘Click Removal’ software. I am a great believer in KEEPING IT SIMPLE where I can. You have been great. Cheers, Gordon

5

That setting gives the recording companies a little room to fudge show volume without running into overload or damage.

That said, I will probably never be able to directly cross an original Patsy Kline pressing with “High Energy Workout Volume 1.” Past the genre of music shift, the volume change would be enough to scare the cat and tip the tea pot over — and still remain perfectly binary legal with no more damage than the original artist intended.

Koz

6

Do you mean Missing features - Audacity Support , Gordon?

The “Optional drivers” means the drivers advertised on http://www.behringer.com/EN/Support/U-Control-Downloads.aspx :

  • “32-bit USB ASIO driver, supporting ASIO and WDM driver models” for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32-bit)
  • “64-bit USB ASIO driver, supporting ASIO and WDM driver models” for Windows 7 (64-bit)
  • “Combined 32/64-bit 3rd party ASIO driver by ASIO4ALL”

ASIO is a lower latency audio interface system. Latency is not a problem when you are recording from vinyl, only if you sing or play an instrument over other tracks.

Audacity does not ship with ASIO support but you can compile Audacity with ASIO support .

Without ASIO support, Audacity will not see the ASIO4ALL drivers above. From the few user reports I have seen, even the drivers that support WDM as well as ASIO hide the Behringer device from Audacity, but those reports were for the Behringer Guitar Link.

Feel free to use the ASIO/WDM drivers and let us know if Audacity sees the device, and if it adds a volume slider for the device in Windows.


Gale