Recording problems / microphone Sennheiser MD 46

[Marla]

i try to record my voice with a sennheiser md 46 microphone (microsoft windows xp, audacity 1.3) but the audio input is too low.

even if i set audio input to max, even if i scream in the mic, it´s very low, i can hardly hear it.
under audacity preferences i chose for i/0 recording and playback device simga tel audio. quality 22050 and 16 bit.

windows sx system preference uses sigmatel audio for audio settings.

anyone knows a solution?

marla

[Edgar]

Hi Marla!

There are at least two places where you need to set the microphone gain level -- one is on Audacity's Mixer toolbar the other is on the computer system's software interface. From what you said it would appear that you have set the microphone gain at the maximum in both places.

The next thing to consider is cables and connections. The Sennheiser MD46 is a good microphone (at the low range of the professional grade); I went online to check the technical specifications but Sennheiser does not say if this is an XLR cable connection microphone. I did see a picture with a cord attached that was almost certainly XLR. If this is the case, what are you using to convert from balanced XLR signal out of the mic into the microphone input on your computer? Are you sure you are plugging into mic in and not line in on the computer? Can you test the microphone with some other piece of equipment? Do have a cable tester that is capable of testing your entire cable/adapter solution between mike in the computer?

Good luck, you should be able to resolve this but I doubt that it is a software problem.

[kozikowski]

Maybe something like this?

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/UnbalBalAdapter.jpg

Nobody makes that for sale. I had to make it in my electronics shop.

It's actually worse. That will, on modern PCs, give very low level because modern computers are so darn cheap.

Usually, the way out is one of the fine USB sound adapters available...

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9477

Koz