Poor sound quality

I am sorry if this is somewhat of a duplicate topic but I have been reading through the help manuals and forums and still can’t get this problem resolved. I am running Audacity 3.1.3 with window 10 on a 64 bit PC.

I just recently bought a new computer and hooked up my turntable to it as I have for years (through a USB Phono PLus interface device) but now the sound quality is not good when i am playing/listening to a record. It sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of a tunnel. I have adjusted all the settings in Audacity, my computer, and the usb interface device and did all the trouble shooting I have found but still the sound is not right. I know this has to be just an issue with a setting or something that i need to change but I can’t figure it out. Any advise/help is much appreciated.

Worth checking that Windows audio enhancements (recording & playback) are off … https://youtu.be/sxnUjiGgBaI
FAQ:Recording - Troubleshooting - Audacity Manual

There may be a second layer of enhancements that need to be switched off, e.g. MaxxAudio.

Thanks but unfortunately that didn’t work either.

This could happen if you are recording through the PC’s built-in microphone, which could happen by default. Make sure you specify your ART USB Phono Plus as your Recording Device in your Device Toolbar. If it does not appear in the drop-down list, do Transport > Rescan Audio Devices.

I think you might be right Jademan as the only recording device that works to hear the playback says “microphone(13 - usb audio codec)”. When I rescan audio devices as you advised nothing changes and no new devices are listed in the drop down.

“microphone(x - usb audio codec)” sounds right. To see issues other Audacity users have had, related to this preamp, enter “art usb phono” in the Forum search bar (upper right corner of this page).

Sorry to bump this thread to the top but I still don’t have resolution to this problem. I have determined that the problem is that the bass and mid range of the music I’m recording from the turntable is almost non existent. The rest of the sound is ok. I have downloaded a legacy version of Audacity 2.3.3 that I was using successfully on the old computer but I have the same problem with that too. SO I have switched back to the newest updated version.

Another small issue I have noticed too is that I have to turn “recording volume” slider up to 100 (maximum) to get the volume up to an acceptable level and even then the waveform does not get into the clipping zones. But I get a lot of feedback from the turntable.

I gotta get this resolved… Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Some strange symptoms…

The recording slider usually doesn’t work with USB devices, and you usually don’t want it to. You need to control the analog signal before it goes into the analog-to-digital converter, and that’s what the knob on your interface is for.


What kind of “feedback”?

It’s possible to make an internal feedback loop if you select “loopback” or “stereo mix” as your recording device. That won’t happen if you specifically select the USB device.

but now the sound quality is not good when i am playing/listening to a record.

This is a little confusing… Is the analog output from the preamp/interface OK?

This might be a “dumb suggestion”, but is the interface set to “phono”? I believe it has a line/phono switch. In the line position the signal will be super-weak with no bass.

oticed too is that I have to turn “recording volume” slider up to 100 (maximum) to get the volume up to an acceptable level

…Different topic but low digital levels are not a problem. The most important thing is that you avoid clipping. You can boost after recording. We generally recommend that you shoot-for between -3 and -6dB but nothing bad happens if you get close to 0dB and you can also go quite a bit lower without hurting audio quality.

I have been recording with this set up for 10 years now and have always used the recording slider.

The feedback is when I put the needle on the record without playing the record (needle is just sitting on it) is when the wooo wooo wooo feedback sound starts.

And yes the usb interface is set to phono already.

I have been recording with this set up for 10 years now and have always used the recording slider.

With the same USB interface? I think sometimes there is a feature built-into the interface but it’s rare. Or maybe you lost that feature with a Windows upgrade? But like I said you shouldn’t need a digital recording level control anyway, if you need to adjust the volume you need to adjust the analog level before it’s digitized. You generally just want to “capture” the digital audio data unmolested.

The feedback is when I put the needle on the record without playing the record (needle is just sitting on it) is when the wooo wooo wooo feedback sound starts.

You can get analog feedback if the turntable is sitting on the speaker, or if you have speakers with “good bass” and wood floors, etc. But that’s acoustic-mechanical feedback. Nothing to do with the computer.

The ONLY way I know of getting feedback inside the computer is with loopback***** or stereo mix. These capture/record the sound coming out of the soundcard (or interface) and if that’s fed-back in (depending on the settings), you’ve got a feedback loop. There’s also a delay through the computer so you might get an echo at first before the feedback goes totally out-of-control. There is also some 3rd-party routing software that can potentially create an internal software feedback loop but I doubt you’re using anything like that.

You never said if the analog output from the interface is Ok without the computer. Maybe the interface has gone bad… If the analog is bad the digital isn’t going to work.

It you’re using a laptop it “wouldn’t hurt” to clap your hands or otherwise make some noise in the room to make sure you’re not somehow recording from the computer’s microphone, or from a mix of microphone and other sounds… Of course you can get regular-old acoustic feedback through the computer’s microphone. (It’s a little different from a PA system because of the delay through the computer.)

P.S.
Sometimes you might not SEE “loopback”
* because sometimes there’s not enough room in the box. It might say something like “ART USB Phono Plus (loopback” and “loopback” might be cut-off. If you hover the mouse pointer over Recording Device it the whole thing should show-up. Or, since loopback is only supported by WASAPI, try Direct Sound or MME.

yes i have been using the same interface this entire time. And when i got a new computer I am using the same OS as the old one, Windows 10.

I have not tried the analog output without the computer.

At this point I feel the problem is with the usb interface so I think I will go that direction next.

Thanks