I regularly use an “aggregate device” added via the MIDI setup app (as described at this link: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/54675/how-can-i-send-my-computers-audio-to-multiple-outputs) so that I can record directly audio from websites and hear what I’m recording at the same time. It works great except the sound recorded with Audacity is always recorded at a very low input level and I never could see how to increase that. Usually this is not a problem because I simply use Effect–>Amplify to fix it later.
However, lately I’ve run into websites where the volume is much lower – so low that when I amplify later I get distortion. Because of this I want to be able to increase the input level somehow. However, even with everything I can place at 100% input level (in the sound settings, in Audacity, in MIDI), I cannot get the input level to increase. This audio is easy to hear through my speakers, although it’s a little quite, because I can just turn up the volume.
To quantify this problem, this website has a test file (https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_dynamiccheck.php) which outputs at Full Scale, 6dB below Full Scale, 12dB below Full Scale, and 24dB below Full Scale. For my setup I experience most websites record in Audacity at 12dB below, but the problematic ones are at 24dB below Full Scale.
So my question is:
How can I increase the input level while recording in Audacity with my aggregate device?
I’ve seen similar threads about this but no solutions have helped and they generally are old posts.
I’m using Audacity 2.3.2 on a early 2015 Macbook Pro with OS 10.14.5
Thanks