Sorry if this issue has been addressed before. I mostly have fun with karaoke. I plug in a Shure SM58 Beta into a new Mackie ProFX6V3 mixer with USB connection to my laptop/Audacity. I connect karaoke tracks to the 3/4 input of the mixer. As compared to listening to the mix on a Bose headset or the PA speaker, the recording has a much more subdued volume and lacks “sparkle.” I tried Select All, then clicked on Effect, Amplify, ran that, but even then, quite subdued. If I push the Main Out volume then a crackling distortion occurs on the recording. Hmm, I have not tried pushing the input volume to the limit, then doing a Select All and clicking on Effects>Distortion. The MP3 files created by Audacity are also quite subdued and I have to turn up the volume quite a bit on a computer or smartphone/headset when I listen to them.
Maybe this is all I can expect on a laptop and Audacity as compared with a professional recording, I don’t know. Would appreciate suggestions! But one thing is for sure: with this new USB mixer, the clarity is so much better than with using the Audio out of my previous mixer, a ProFX4V2, which I would connect to a $28 Behringer USB interface to connect to the laptop (my laptop does not have an audio line in).
Oh, one other thing: last night I installed and tried Pro Tools First which came free with the Mackie mixer but hated it. Then I tried Cakewalk by BandLab and hated that too! I haven’t found anything better than Audacity! GarageBand is only for a Mac which I don’t have.
As compared to listening to the mix on a Bose headset or the PA speaker, the recording has a much more subdued volume and lacks “sparkle.”
Are you using the same headphones/speakers with Audacity? It should sound the same through the same set-up.
…The USB output from the mixer should simply be a digitized version of the analog output.
Hmm, I have not tried pushing the input volume to the limit,
You should keep the digital peaks below 0dB because the analog-to-digital converter in your mixer will [u]clip[/u] (distort) if you try to go over. It’s OK to record lower and leave plenty of headroom, and then boost the volume after recording.
All and clicking on Effects>Distortion.
I assume you don’t want any of those effects…
If you run the Amplify effect, Audacity has pre-scanned your file and Amplify will default to whatever gain is needed for normalized/maximized 0dB peaks. If Amplify defaults to 0dB gain (no change) immediately after recording it’s probably clipped.
The MP3 files created by Audacity are also quite subdued and I have to turn up the volume quite a bit on a computer or smartphone/headset when I listen to them.
Commercial recordings are dynamically* compressed and limited to make them “louder”. You can use these effects too (with “make-up gain”) but you may not achieve the same loudness with as little damage as professionally mastered recordings. If you want to try those, I recommend starting with the limiter. It’s simpler than compression and there are fewer settings to mess with and you are less-likely to get unwanted side-effects. (Limiting is a kind of fast-compression.)
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Don’t confuse dynamic compression with MP3 file compression.
I plug in a Shure SM58 Beta into a new Mackie ProFX6V3 mixer with USB connection to my laptop/Audacity. I connect karaoke tracks to the 3/4 input of the mixer. As compared to listening to the mix on a Bose headset or the PA speaker, the recording has a much more subdued volume and lacks “sparkle.” I tried Select All, then clicked on Effect, Amplify, ran that, but even then, quite subdued. If I push the Main Out volume then a crackling distortion occurs on the recording. Hmm, I have not tried pushing the input volume to the limit, then doing a Select All and clicking on Effects>Distortion. The MP3 files created by Audacity are also quite subdued and I have to turn up the volume quite a bit on a computer or smartphone/headset when I listen to them.