mic recording audio too low

[dhdd]

I've had audacity for apx a month now and everything was going great. This morning I was working on a project and tried to record my speaking voice. The recording was almost inaudible. I record with a shur mic and a gemini mixer connected to my pc via the input jack on the back. I'm not computer saavy and I don't know too much about computereese.But I did ck my realtek sound device which stated it is in good working condition, I checked the recording volume level which was almost 100, and I checked the Audacity forum for problems similiar to mine and I updated the sound device driver. I also tried to use a different mic and a different mixer but no change. Would you please advise? Thank you, Dan. Incidentally, I pushed the master volume on the mixer to 10 and the mic volume almost all the way up and I got decent volume on my recording but it was slightly distorted.

[dhdd]

Hello Cytheria, thanks for replying, but here's where my computer knowledge becomes very limited. Do I uninstall the beta version of audacity and install 1.2.x ? also does it work in windows 7? Thanks.

[bgravato]

That is odd. You seem to have tried it from all angles so I can't really offer any advice.

Then don't.

Do I uninstall the beta version of audacity and install 1.2.x ? also does it work in windows 7? Thanks.

No, the recommended version for windows 7 is 1.3.12. Audacity 1.2.x is old and known not to work in recent OS's such as Windows 7.

Check in Audacity's Preferences -> Devices if you have the right input selected for the Recording device. If you connected the mixer's line output to the soundcard's line input (blue socket), then you should select built-in line-in (the name may be different on your system) as the recording source.

[steve]

I've had audacity for apx a month now and everything was going great. This morning I was working on a project and tried to record my speaking voice.

Have you previously recorded your speaking voice, or do you normally just record vinyl?

BTW, bgravato is correct, the recommended version of Audacity is 1.3.12 (but Audacity 1.3.13 is due out next month and it will be worth updating to the new version when it is released - to upgrade to Audacity 1.3.13 you will just need to install it over the top of your current 1.3.12 version).

[dhdd]

Thank you bgravato and Steve for the replies. I looked into preferences--> devices--> and the recording box was checkedcorrect, it stated line In. I only record voice via the mic. The other imports are wav. files which record and play just fine.

[steve]

Which Shure mic. and which Gemini mixer are you using?

[dhdd]

Hello again Steve, well I'm using a shure wireless which worked good before, also used a radioshack realistic mic which worked good before. The mixing boards I used are a gemini pdm 7024 and pyramid pr-2700,which also worked good before this problem started. I interchanged the boards and mics but w/ no success.

[steve]

Unfortunately I can't see an on-line manual for either of those mixers.

If you plug your headphones into the mixer, can you hear the microphone working loud and clear?

[dhdd]

Hello Steve, yes I can hear the mic thru my headphones. I then tried my new Gemini mm-1800 and the same thing happens ( very low recording unless I crank the master up to 10 and the mic volume up to 8-9 or 10). I even cleaned all the jack plugs (which were clean and new to begin with). So thats 3 different mixers and 2 different mics. When I first started to use audacity, I only had to put the master on my mixer at apx 4 or 5, and my mic volume apx 4. Do you think it's my sound card? although all other music and audio sounds the same to me?

[steve]

Do you think it's my sound card?

That's possible, though I think that it's more likely to either be a faulty lead (or socket), or an incorrect sound card setting.
Check the lead visually, and if possible try another lead.
Check that everything is plugged in securely - try unplugging and re-plugging a couple of times in case there is a bit of dirt, grease or corrosion on the connectors.
Try gently wiggling the connector while it is recorded to see if the connector is dodgy.

For your sound card settings, check that all effects and audio enhancements are switched off. Particularly look out for "Echo Cancellation" or "Noise Reduction" type settings (RealTek sound cards usually have such settings, but they can sometimes be hard to find, so have a good poke around the sound card's settings. Make a note of anything that you change so that you can undo changes if necessary).