Running Audacity 2.1.2 on a Dell Inspiron 5521 laptop that was recently upgraded from Win 7 to Win 10. Using Windows WASAPI as audio host and Speakers (loopback) as recording device.
Under Win 7, before upgrade, changing volume with Windows mixer changed Audacity’s recording volume. Now, running Win 10, the Windows mixer does not affect Audacity’s recording level, which stays at 1.00. Recordings look as if they were normalized to 0.0 db, and so far I don’t notice any clipping. But I obviously don’t want everything recorded at max level.
Can anybody help me figure out what’s happening and how I can fix it?
I’m pretty sure that’s normal with WASAPI loopback because it’s supposed to capture exactly what’s playing. If you reduce the playback volume, I believe the recording volume will be reduced too.
And, if the playback isn’t clipping the recording shouldn’t be clipped.
But I obviously don’t want everything recorded at max level.
With an analog source you want to leave some headroom for unexpected-unpredictable peaks. But you’re recording from a digital (or already digitized) source that’s already limited (or clipped) at 0dB, so there’s no problem unless you add gain and “try” to go even higher.
What happens depends on the drivers of your sound device - the Windows Mixer “Device” playback slider does not always affect the recorded level. Did you look for new Windows 10 audio drivers for your exact 5521 model on the Dell web site?
If you are recording from a web browser have you tried turning down the volume slider in the web player? That slider is usually independent of the Windows Mixer appplication sliders for the browser or web player.
Also if you have a choice between HTML 5 and Flash Player it is possible one may affect the level of achieved recording and the other might not.
You can Effect > Normalize… to your chosen level after recording.