Audacity Forum

Howdy,
I've begun recording audio books and they list all of their requirements, sound wise, in decibels. I need to record at a certain volume, but the recording volume slider uses the linear scale, when I need it in the logarithmic scale. I've looked everywhere and have no idea how to change it. For clarification, I'm not talking about the recording volume METER, I'm talking about the SLIDER. The meter you can just right click and change it, but not for the slider?? I would really appreciate someone's help on this.

I've begun recording audio books and they list all of their requirements, sound wise, in decibels. I need to record at a certain volume,

With digital recording, the recording level is not THAT important. Leave some headroom so you don't clip (distort) and adjust the level after recording.

And if you are serious about recording audio books you really should have an audio interface with a recording-level knob. (Or, a good "studio style" USB mic (AKA "podcast mic") with a recording level control.)

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In case you haven't found it yet, there is an ACX Check plug-in.

Note that when you adjust the volume of the whole file, the peak & RMS levels change by the same (dB) amount... The difference between peak & RMS is constant with linear volume adjustment. Dynamic compression, limiting, and leveling will bring the peak & RMS closer together.

The biggest issue is usually background noise. You need a quiet "studio" and a good preamp/interface. Noise reduction can sometimes leave artifacts or sound unnatural so it's best to start-out with a good signal-to-noise ratio.