rec soft passages audio gets squashed

We all have our ideas regarding recording! Share your experience.
Forum rules
If you require help using Audacity, please post on the forum board relevant to your operating system:
Windows
Mac OS X
GNU/Linux and Unix-like
Post Reply
jshag4
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:24 pm
Operating System: Please select

rec soft passages audio gets squashed

Post by jshag4 » Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:45 pm

when recording soft acoustic audio parts the audio seems to get compressed as the volume is decreased somehow. strong passages stay at their level.
running win xp sp2
512MB ram
audacity 1.2.6
standard mic input on Asus MB K7

Irish
Forum Crew
Posts: 550
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:25 pm
Operating System: Please select

Re: rec soft passages audio gets squashed

Post by Irish » Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:02 am

What type of mic are you using?

PO'L
________________________________________FOR INSTANT HELP: (Click on Link below)
* * * * Tips * * * * Tutorials * * * * 1.3 Quick Start Guide * * * * Audacity 1.3 Manual * * * * Audacity wiki * * * *

jshag4
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:24 pm
Operating System: Please select

Re: rec soft passages audio gets squashed

Post by jshag4 » Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:39 am

ha ha
I am using the $5 mic that comes with the pc. I have used a professional SM58 into a broadcast quality mixer with mic level out same results I used the same mixer with line level out of course using the line level input on the pc same results. It's like a ramp up from soft level to when I play stronger but when I play softer it ramps down again slowly. The ramp up and down slopes are too slow to keep up with the dynamics of the input level. But I know I don't have a compressor engaged. Very curious. Has to be a hardware issue on the old motherboard, you think?

Irish
Forum Crew
Posts: 550
Joined: Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:25 pm
Operating System: Please select

Re: rec soft passages audio gets squashed

Post by Irish » Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:35 am

I'd suggest going through the settings on the sound card in detail.
It sounds like there may be an effect switched on somewhere (Automatic Gain Control or something like that).

PO'L
________________________________________FOR INSTANT HELP: (Click on Link below)
* * * * Tips * * * * Tutorials * * * * 1.3 Quick Start Guide * * * * Audacity 1.3 Manual * * * * Audacity wiki * * * *

kozikowski
Forum Staff
Posts: 69374
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:57 pm
Operating System: macOS 10.13 High Sierra

Re: rec soft passages audio gets squashed

Post by kozikowski » Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:45 am

I'm with him. Sound cards on PCs are designed to work well with Skype and other VOIP systems. They tend to restrict quiet sounds to eliminate echos. Most times you can turn that off.

Koz

steve
Site Admin
Posts: 81627
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:43 am
Operating System: Linux *buntu

Re: rec soft passages audio gets squashed

Post by steve » Fri Oct 30, 2009 5:03 pm

kozikowski wrote:Most times you can turn that off.
It has been possible to turn them off on all machines that I've seen, though on one Toshiba laptop they could only be turned off from in the Windows Control Panel. I wish they wouldn't hide these settings, but sometimes they do :x
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Post Reply