When I record something, why does it sound so quiet?

[heyman]

Hi,

I'm kind of audio stupid so I do not know any audio linguo so I'll try to the point, and hopefully you guys can help.

Ever since I got a new computer with windows Vista, my recording has little to no sound. I don't know what the problem is I've checked everything that I know of, and turned input to the max, and recording volume to the max. I've tried this "microphone" boost that boosts up dB, which I believe is decibals, but then it doesn't help and only makes the sound fuzzy. Recording use to be no problem with my old computer, although it had XP. This is the same for both Vista's default recorder as well as Audacity. Can anyone solve my problem?? Appreciated and much thanks for any replies or ideas.

P.S. My computer's sound thing is called Realtek, if that helps at all, I don't know if it does. Thanks!

[steve]

Is this a laptop computer?

There are often one or more settings accessed from an icon near the clock that allows you to apply or disable microphone effects (may be called "noise reduction", AGC, "Automatic Gain Control" "feedback eliminator" ...various other names). You must disable all effects.

Note that these setting are often hidden and may require a lot of fiddling to find them. Some users have been unable to find these settings on their laptops, (I'm not sure if that is because they are not available, or they just have not found them).

Laptop PC's are also notorious for poor recording quality, even when you have those effects turned off. An external sound card is much recommended (or if you have a big budget you could get a Mac and a microphone pre-amp).