Does v3.7.1 yield higher recorded levels than v3.3.3, requiring lower Audacity mic recording level setting in 3.7.1 to avoid clipping, all else (interface gain & mic) equal?
I use a Focusrite Solo interface with gain set @ ~ 2:30 and a Rode NT-1 5th gen mic.
On older pc, Audacity 3.3.3 yielded good recorded levels (peaks -6 to -12db) with Audacity mic recording level set @ 100%. On new more powerful pc, Audacity 3.7.1 yields too-high recorded levels with clipping when mic recording level set @ 100%; must reduce mic recording level to ~ 50% to yield peaks in -6 to -12db range.
What explains this? Note that Audacity 3.7.1 mic recording level defaulted to ~ 50% when first installed.
There is a cross between stereo and mono somewhere in your setup.
If you force a recorder to record in mono (one blue wave) and it thinks you performed your work in stereo (two blue waves) it will combine the left and right sound to mono and then reduce the volume by half to avoid overload damage.
Right? If you really did have two microphones and you yelled into both of them, the mono-mixdown would go nuclear.
There’s another path for this. It’s possible in 3.7.1 you can prevent Audacity from doing that mixdown trick, and you just haven’t found the setting yet.
Koz: Recording track is mono. Preferences>Audio Settings > Recording Channels: mono. Recording through a Focusrite Solo with one recording channel, and one mic. If there is really a cross between stereo & mono somewhere in the setup, where could it be?
That’s not a guaranteed solution. That’s just the natural response when someone says “50%” (or 6dB, same thing).
Do the “AHHH” test. Say “AHHHH” and get louder and louder and closer and closer until the Solo volume knob turns red. That’s its official overload point. Isn’t there a Windows sound control panel with a volume meter? What does that say? And then what does Audacity say and at what volume settings? The fuzzy assumption is everything should overload at about the same volume.
You can’t easily compare knob settings.
What other applications do you like? Skype/Zoom/Meetings/Multi-Player Games? They all affect the machine’s sound and none of them tell you what they’re doing.
Did you do a Clean Windows Shutdown when you did the update?