Recording problems

[woldsweather]

I have used Audacity in the past and found it great. I suddenly couldn't record so bought naoth (cheap) headset. The recording level was barely viewable on the screen or audible. Assumed it was the mic/headset. Have now got a reasonabl USB Microphone and still have the same problem.

I would appreciate some help.

[steve]

The recording level was barely viewable on the screen or audible.

"barely viewable" So it was recorded, but just very quiet?
This is probably going to be easier to fix with your old headset if it was non-USB. Let's have a go with that first and we can go onto the USB headset later.

Assuming a non-USB soundcard plugged into the Mic and headphone socket. It IS plugged into the Mic socket and not the "Line In" socket isn't it?

Open the Windows Mixer (from the loudspeaker icon in the lower right of the screen near the clock), and find the "Record Settings" page. Look for the microphone slider and the master record level slider and use them to adjust the record level. There may also be a "Microphone Boost" check box which will make the microphone a lot louder.