I am using a MacOS Catalina 10,15.6 desktop computer and am new to Audacity. When I try to record through a Behringer unit, I am unable to alter the recording level. It is always in the red. The manual tells me to double click the recording bar for a dropdown menu to make an alteration but the dropdown menu does not appear. What am I doing wrong please?
I try to record through a Behringer unit
Which Behringer unit and what are you recording? The UCA-202 and its sisters have no way to control recording volume and Audacity doesn’t eitherfor a digital connection, so you have to do it at the source whatever that is.
Koz
I am using a UCA22 recording a 45 rev vinyl.
Hello Kozikowski. Would my UCA22 be classed as one of the sisters of the UCA-202 then?
I’m having trouble finding a UCA-22. The search keeps pointing me back to the UCA-222 which is the red color version of the popular USB digital converter.
The units in this series are plain UCA-202, the red UCA-222, and the UFO-202 which has a phono amplifier built-in.
These units can be made to work OK as long as everything else in the system works as it should. If you have a loud cassette tape or high volume cassette machine, you could have digital overload with no way to control it. One way around this is to connect the converter to your music system and use those volume controls to set the recording levels. Or you can get a higher-end USB converter such as the Art series…
https://artproaudio.com/product/usb-phono-plus-project-series/
…which has volume controls built-in. You can’t control volume after the digital converter because once the digital system overloads, the damage is permanent. The best you can do is make the damage louder or quieter.
The music on a 45 disk isn’t “flat.” It has intentional RIAA tonal distortion to make the low tones fit in the groove. If you play a 45, you have to take that distortion out, usually by putting a phono preamplifier in the sound channel somewhere. If you have a home music system, it may have an amplifier with “Phono-In” connections and a ground or earth screw.
That connection’s job is to remove the RIAA distortion.
Koz
If you mean “UCA-222”, then yes, that’s a very close relative of the UCA-202.
If you actually do mean “UCA22”, I’ve no idea as I’ve never heard of that model.
Hello Steve. Please accept my apologies. My unit is a UCA222. I don’t know how I missed the 2. I am playing the 45 vinyl with a Bush Accoustics player which has its own amplifier so I guess I can’t do anything about it then. I suppose there is no way of getting rid of the effects of the clipping by using the Audacity Effects drop down menu is there? Having said that, I felt that there was very little distortion on the play back recording anyway.
Hello Koz, same question a bit different:
First of all, I used to make LP copies on a previous Audacity version using a 2009 macbook using the line in port - great stuff - dead easy! That’s history now and we dive in deep digital waters with 2015 iMacs and others…!
Bid problem now so I bought a USB 202 Behringer (mentioned in Audacity manual, among 2 more possible candidates…) thinking that was the answer… Can you confirm the following set-up won’t work or am I doing something wrong or missing something:
Sansui SR 636 turntable + Marantz PM50 stereo amplifier + RCA cable at TAPE 2 out + USB 202 (green light on) + 2015 iMac + Sound preferences set at Audio Codec 2ch input - which I can see… + Audio MIDI set at Audio Codec 2ch - which I can also see.
This set-up shows a fair signal (+/- 1/3 to the left of the total range) on the sound preferences widow but I’m unable to see any recording level when I have “Monitor recording” on…
One suggestion: We need a write-up/explanation in the manual concerning this for us lay people who are new to this and maybe some updated information on the available gizmos to use. It appears that there aren’t many choices given that the majority are all digital equipped and don’t care…
The ART rep in Canada sent me this information which may be what you are talking about, at $119CAN…: ART Pro Audio
Phono Preamp/Interface w/ USB
Thanks for the help.
Richard
I have the ART pre-amp (which is like the device you’re talking about but without the USB) a great piece of kit. Both have a gain control knob. I sed it with an Edirol UA-1EX USB sound card (no longer available). The combined ART device preamp & ADC/DAC USB was not available when I was buying otherwise I would probably have bought that.
IIRC one of the other Forum Elves, Bill Wharrie (also Canadian) has one of these and rates it highly.
Peter.
You may find this set of tutorials useful: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_copying_tapes_lps_or_minidiscs_to_cd.html
especially this one:https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/recording_with_usb_turntables.html
and this suggested workflow: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/sample_workflow_for_lp_digitization.html
This Sticky Forum thread has reviews of various sound card devices: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-card-reviews/8375/1
Peter.
Not me. I’ve never owned one of those. I use the Behringer UFO-202.
– Bill
Whoops - a false memory. must be old-age 
Peter.
BGravato had an ART pre-amp. I don’t recall if it was the USB version or not.
Thank you everyone for your comments. I have read all the references but I and am becoming more confused, so can anyone please tell me if I should be able to adjust the output volume on a Behringer UCA222? If so, which part of all the references do I need?
The UCA-222 (and others in this family of interfaces) do not have gain control (some may have a volume control for headphones, but that’s all).
The UFO-202 has a switch for selecting “phono” or “line”. “Phono” is for turntables that don’t have a built in phono pre-amp.
The UCA-202 has a switch for direct monitor.
The UCA-222 has a switch for direct monitor and an optical output, and is a dark pink colour.
Other than that, these devices are virtually identical.
The level should be controlled by setting the output level of whatever you are plugging into the UCA’s inputs.
On Windows there ‘may’ be a volume control for the device in the Windows Sound control panel settings. This control, if present, works by scaling the digital audio data - much like Audacity’s “Amplify” effect. On some Windows machines there may also be a “boost” setting (also in the Windows Sound control panel settings). “Boost” (if present) should be off. The recording level (if present) will probably need to be set to minimum.
OK Steve. Thanks for that. I was using it with a stand alone turntable but I have found that if I take the input from my Rotel amplifier and a separate turntable, I can control the input volume from there. It works fine.
Super 
I’ll close this topic as “solved”.