Recording from stereo mix is louder than speaker output

[Eiphel]

Hi guys. I've spent a day trying to fix this to extreme frustration. Somehow, miraculously, I did manage to get my PC to record directly once before, and I vaguely recall it being baffling and having similar problems. Regardless, I did get it working, and have made plenty of recordings which sound identical to the speaker output. Then the other day I plugged in my mic for some online gaming and the PC threw a tizzy. It took me half an hour to get the microphone working again, but in doing so I appear to have disrupted the carefully balanced house of cards that was my audio settings. Now when I try recording the stereo mix output, the track I record is much, much louder than the actual output, distorting the sound. Adjusting the recording volume doesn't help. If anyone has any suggestions I will be eternally grateful.

[kozikowski]

I appear to have disrupted the carefully balanced house of cards

That's about the best description of this process I've heard in a long time.

If you're on a newer Windows machine -- Vista or Win7 -- the computer will try to help you by automatically adjusting the microphone characteristics. Of course, it leaves them that way when you're done.

That and recording Mix-Out will make your head hurt because it uses recursive sound pathways which no normal humans were meant to fully understand.

There should be volume controls on each of the services in your machine and adjust each one for the service you're using -- keeping in mind that Mix-Out can use more than one which is what kills .

Windows Control Panel
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... trol_Panel

Koz

[Eiphel]

Thanks for the response, but sadly no luck. I'd already gone over and over the control panel and volume control options. I tried connecting a cable from Line Out to Line In but I got the same issue - The recording is at a much higher volume than the actual output. I gave up and tried Freecorder but it's a horrible piece of intrusive software and it was no use anyway, it would stop recording every second. I fear my recording capabilities are lost forever. My last thought is to try reinstalling the drivers. Here's hoping...

[steve]

We may be able to offer more specific suggestions if you tell us a bit more about your set up, for example, which Windows and which Audacity version?