I’m running the 2.0.0 on my Mac (will soon be upgrading to the new version). I do the FB and web site for my fire department. On there I like to include audio of any noteworthy calls we have. I use Audacity to record and edit down the calls to be able to post them. The problem I’m running into is that I like to include the tones in the recording but the fire tone is dropping off in volume level in the recording. Our EMS/Rescue uses a standard 1 second/3 second tone so that one is fine but our fire tone along with a few departments around us is a Group Call tone which is a flat 8 second long tone. It’s fine the 1st half of the tone but the 2nd half it’ll get much lower. Here’s some quick .wav files I just made to give an example:
Our EMS/Rescue tone which is fine (1063hz/716hz):
http://f.cl.ly/items/2t1B1C2s031Y3C0U0U16/A14.wav
An older recording of our fire tone how it’s supposed to sound without the audio fading (Group Call 716hz):
http://f.cl.ly/items/1Z1a281P3L3U1T0j0d36/10A.wav
And here’s what is happening to the fire tone when it drops in volume after a few seconds (volume is louder on this one initially. I threw this together quick without much editing, be careful of this):
http://f.cl.ly/items/3w1S123L1y3G1j2J3l2D/10B.wav
I’ve searched around in the settings to see if there’s anything that can help but I’m stumped. Anybody have any ideas on how to fix this? It’s getting very frustrating.
The newer Macs have a conferencing tool (that I don’t remember the name of) in Apple > System Preferences > Hardware > Sound > Input. It says “Automatic – something.” Unclick that if you have it. See if that helps. It’s supposed to only help during the microphone use, but you didn’t say how you had everything connected.
Koz
I use a mix of a scanner hooked up to the computer into one of the lines in and a digital recorder using the internal mic. Now that you mention it I haven’t paid attention to when it happens. But I never thought about the settings. I’m going to try that suggestion and see if that’s all I needed to do. I’ve gone crazy searching around in all the settings in Audacity so hopefully this will be a simple fix. Thanks!
A quick update… Since I’ve posted I’ve updated to the 2.0.2 and have tried unchecking the box in the “Sounds” section. It looks like that was what I needed. In a few minutes of testing it’s now working perfectly again when I’m recording. Thank you again! 
Is it this
Skitch | Evernote ?
If so, we should add this to Audacity Manual .
Gale
Yes. That is what I had to uncheck. I used Audacity for a few hours this evening and since that box was unchecked it’s back to normal for me and working perfect again.
I guess it would be good to add it to the FAQ’s. I don’t know if anybody else would have this issue but I know I was pulling my hair out for a while trying to poke around in the settings and preferences in Audacity looking for something to help and it was a simple fix in the settings on the Mac that I’ve never even noticed before.
