Audacity Forum

1. The version number of Audacity. 2.4.2
2. Which operating system you are using, the latest Catalina
3. What you are trying to do. Record with a Samson Q2U
4. What the problem is. The waveform is very, very small.

New user here...
When I record straight into Audacity in Catalina, the waveform is extremely short.
Things I've tried:
1) I've amplified the track but 1) the track has to be shortened 2) it picks up all sorts of noises 3) ends up being very choppy
2) adjusted the volume levels on the microphone, in Audacity and on the mic itself
3) Rebooted and restarted
To no avail.

How can I remedy this?

TIA

3. What you are trying to do. Record with a Samson Q2U
4. What the problem is. The waveform is very, very small.

Does it sound OK after running the Amplify effect?

That could be normal depending on what you're trying to record, now loud it is, and how close you are to the mic.

From what I can see there is no recording volume control built-into the mic. The manufacture has to leave plenty of headroom in case you want to stick the mic in front of a guitar amplifier or something like that. If the analog signal is too hot, you'll clip (distort) the analog-to-digital converter in the mic and the sound is damaged before it ever gets to the computer.

There's a rocker switch thingy near the connector end of the microphone. The manual is a little ambiguous as to what it does, but that may be worth a shot.


It's true. Home microphones have modest volume. You can fix low volume, but loud volume, overload distortion is immediately obvious and most times permanent.


What's the show? Why did you buy the microphone?

Koz

Amplify didn't work, but compressor did!

I tried the switch on the mic, but no change.

If I remember properly, I didn't have this problem until I switched to Catalina.

For now, the compressor seems to be a doable workaround.

I bought the mic for my podcast, [Advertising is not permitted].

Thanks for your responses!

ZQ