Audacity Forum

If I make a sound then the display shows a certain level. After 1 second this level is cut by 80% and only comes back after a period of silence. Is there a timer or other function that can be increased to avoid this.

We may be able to avoid having this problem at all if we could find what you're doing. What are you doing?
Recording a live performance of you singing? Recording a vinyl record? Recording from an internet show?

If you are using specialized hardware such as mixers or USB devices, we need to know that, too.

Pretend you're trying to describe to someone else how to do exactly what you're doing.

Koz

Hi, thanks for the contact. I am trying to record myself singing. I use a pitch device to set the pitch. After blowing that pitch for about 1 second the screen response goes down and on playback the sound diminishes a lot. If I sing after the pitch has been blown then the sound level is high again for about a second and then reduces as for the pitch. It then declines even further unless I go silent. On return the level is higher but again only for a second or so.

I am recording using the microphone if a logitech web camera.

Unless you stop them, sound systems like this assume you're trying to make a video conference or iChat session. They apply automatic volume control and echo cancellation to your show -- sometimes whether you want them to or not.

You can root around in the Windows Control Panels and see if there are any sound services with "auto" in the title you can turn off. You might also wear headphones instead of trying to listen to yourself on speakers, as much fun as that is.

You may also have to go into the webcam control panels to turn off sound management.

Koz

Thanks Koz.

I decided to try a different route and plugged a mic into the front port of my computer and selected that as the input source instead of the Logitech cam mic. That seems to have worked fine so your idea on automatic suppression was correct.

Thanks again.