Monitoring input level??

8 Messages

mamamia1

Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

To be clear I'm a newbie to audiorecording in general and the use of Audacity in special, though I've read a lot of manuals/tutorilas in the last two weeks.

In order to try working with Audacity I''ve made a recording (usb Samsom Q1U Mic) of me playing accoustical guitar, which went fine.
A second recording, which I want to add to the first one, is the same (little) piece but played in chords. Monitoring the input level it isn't possible to get by the -25 (or lower) db up to -12db as suggested in a manual I've gone through. As a result the playback sound is very weak on it's own and cann't be heard when I playback both tracks.

Vista Home Premium, recording device in preferences are set to 'built-in audio. It doesn't make any difference if I set reording device to Q1U mic.

Probably doing something wrong but cann't find out what, so looking for some help.

Thanks in advance.

Gale (Audacity Team)

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

mamamia1 wrote:

To be clear I'm a newbie to audiorecording in general and the use of Audacity in special, though I've read a lot of manuals/tutorilas in the last two weeks.

In order to try working with Audacity I''ve made a recording (usb Samsom Q1U Mic) of me playing accoustical guitar, which went fine.
A second recording, which I want to add to the first one, is the same (little) piece but played in chords. Monitoring the input level it isn't possible to get by the -25 (or lower) db up to -12db as suggested in a manual I've gone through. As a result the playback sound is very weak on it's own and cann't be heard when I playback both tracks.

Vista Home Premium, recording device in preferences are set to 'built-in audio. It doesn't make any difference if I set reording device to Q1U mic.

If you still want to record from the Samson Mic, then at "Recording Device" in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, you need to select "Samson USB codec" or whatever the microphone is called. You should then be able to use the right-hand slider in the Mixer Toolbar:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm

to adjust the input volume. If that slider has no effect, then go to the Windows Control Panel, select the Samson, right-click over it, hit "Properties" and set the level on the "Levels" tab. If you see "AGC" or "volume boost", enable it.

I doubt that there is a recording device called "built-in audio". On Vista, the inputs of the built-in sound device should appear as separate recording devices like <microphone>:<name of built in device>, but again, if you want to record from the USB microphone, your recording device is that USB microphone.

Gale

mamamia1

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

Gale (Audacity Team) wrote:

mamamia1 wrote:

To be clear I'm a newbie to audiorecording in general and the use of Audacity in special, though I've read a lot of manuals/tutorilas in the last two weeks.

In order to try working with Audacity I''ve made a recording (usb Samsom Q1U Mic) of me playing accoustical guitar, which went fine.
A second recording, which I want to add to the first one, is the same (little) piece but played in chords. Monitoring the input level it isn't possible to get by the -25 (or lower) db up to -12db as suggested in a manual I've gone through. As a result the playback sound is very weak on it's own and cann't be heard when I playback both tracks.

Vista Home Premium, recording device in preferences are set to 'built-in audio. It doesn't make any difference if I set reording device to Q1U mic.

If you still want to record from the Samson Mic, then at "Recording Device" in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, you need to select "Samson USB codec" or whatever the microphone is called. You should then be able to use the right-hand slider in the Mixer Toolbar:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm

to adjust the input volume. If that slider has no effect, then go to the Windows Control Panel, select the Samson, right-click over it, hit "Properties" and set the level on the "Levels" tab. If you see "AGC" or "volume boost", enable it.

I doubt that there is a recording device called "built-in audio". On Vista, the inputs of the built-in sound device should appear as separate recording devices like <microphone>:<name of built in device>, but again, if you want to record from the USB microphone, your recording device is that USB microphone.

Gale

Hi Gale,

Thanks for the info. Leveling the mic in Windows Control Panel did it.

One other question if I may?

I recorded the fingerpicking part which was more or less okay. In Project I opened a new stereotrack 9underneath the fingerpicking track) but when I hit Record another one is opend and actually shows the recording. Is this normal? If so why cann't I ger rid of the track which isn't used, because more tracks in one screen means that some of them maybe outside the borders of the screen.

Thanks again, Leo.

Allistair Bywater

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

Hi Leo,

Click in the empty track then the border should turn green. At the top left
of the green track box is a small "x" - click there to delete the track.

Kind Regards

Allistair
ra.bywater@...

----- Original Message -----
From: "mamamia1" <mamamia1@...>
To: <audacity-users@...>
Sent: 08 November 2008 13:39
Subject: Re: [Audacity-users] Monitoring input level??

>
>
>
> Gale (Audacity Team) wrote:
>>
>>
>> mamamia1 wrote:
>>>
>>> To be clear I'm a newbie to audiorecording in general and the use of
>>> Audacity in special, though I've read a lot of manuals/tutorilas in the
>>> last two weeks.
>>>
>>> In order to try working with Audacity I''ve made a recording (usb Samsom
>>> Q1U Mic) of me playing accoustical guitar, which went fine.
>>> A second recording, which I want to add to the first one, is the same
>>> (little) piece but played in chords. Monitoring the input level it isn't
>>> possible to get by the -25 (or lower) db up to -12db as suggested in
>>> http://en.flossmanuals.net/Audacity/RecordingASound a manual I've gone
>>> through. As a result the playback sound is very weak on it's own and
>>> cann't be heard when I playback both tracks.
>>>
>>> Vista Home Premium, recording device in preferences are set to 'built-in
>>> audio. It doesn't make any difference if I set reording device to Q1U
>>> mic.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> If you still want to record from the Samson Mic, then at "Recording
>> Device" in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, you need to select
>> "Samson USB codec" or whatever the microphone is called. You should then
>> be able to use the right-hand slider in the Mixer Toolbar:
>> http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm
>>
>> to adjust the input volume. If that slider has no effect, then go to the
>> http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Windows_Vista_OS#Using_the_Control_Panel_to_select.2Fenable_recording_devices
>> Windows Control Panel , select the Samson, right-click over it, hit
>> "Properties" and set the level on the "Levels" tab. If you see "AGC" or
>> "volume boost", enable it.
>>
>> I doubt that there is a recording device called "built-in audio". On
>> Vista, the inputs of the built-in sound device should appear as separate
>> recording devices like <microphone>:<name of built in device>, but again,
>> if you want to record from the USB microphone, your recording device is
>> that USB microphone.
>>
>>
>> Gale
>>
>
> Hi Gale,
>
> Thanks for the info. Leveling the mic in Windows Control Panel did it.
>
> One other question if I may?
>
> I recorded the fingerpicking part which was more or less okay. In Project
> I
> opened a new stereotrack 9underneath the fingerpicking track) but when I
> hit
> Record another one is opend and actually shows the recording. Is this
> normal? If so why cann't I ger rid of the track which isn't used, because
> more tracks in one screen means that some of them maybe outside the
> borders
> of the screen.
>
> Thanks again, Leo.
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://n2.nabble.com/Monitoring-input-level---tp1469618p1473627.html
> Sent from the audacity-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>
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mamamia1

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

Hi Allistair Bywater,

Thanks for the quick response. I knew it would be simple.

Gale (Audacity Team)

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by mamamia1

On Sat, 8 Nov 2008 05:39:14 -0800 (PST)
mamamia1 <mamamia1@...> wrote:

> Gale (Audacity Team) wrote:
> > mamamia1 wrote:
> >> ... In order to try working with Audacity I''ve made a recording (usb Samsom
> >> Q1U Mic) of me playing accoustical guitar, which went fine.
> >> A second recording, which I want to add to the first one, is the same
> >> (little) piece but played in chords. Monitoring the input level it isn't
> >> possible to get by the -25 (or lower) db up to -12db as suggested in
> >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/Audacity/RecordingASound a manual I've gone
> >> through. As a result the playback sound is very weak on it's own and
> >> cann't be heard when I playback both tracks.
> >>
> >> Vista Home Premium... recording device in preferences are set to 'built-in
> >> audio. It doesn't make any difference if I set reording device to Q1U
> >> mic.
> >
> > If you still want to record from the Samson Mic, then at "Recording
> > Device" in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, you need to select
> > "Samson USB codec" or whatever the microphone is called. You should then
> > be able to use the right-hand slider in the Mixer Toolbar:
> > http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm
> >
> > to adjust the input volume. If that slider has no effect, then go to the
> > http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Windows_Vista_OS#Using_the_Control_Panel_to_select.2Fenable_recording_devices
> > Windows Control Panel , select the Samson, right-click over it, hit
> > "Properties" and set the level on the "Levels" tab. If you see "AGC" or
> > "volume boost", enable it...
>
> Thanks for the info. Leveling the mic in Windows Control Panel did it.

This still presumably means that you can't adjust the mic level in
Audacity. This might be poor USB compatibility in Vista, or have
you installed the Samson SoftPre control applet?
http://www.samsontech.com/main/misc.cfm?pageID=45

There are reports that this software and the drivers it installs prevent
recording at a decent volume:
http://www.warnas.net/welcome/index.php/2005/12/01/samson-c01u-usb-microphone/

and in any case Samson themselves say it is incompatible with Vista.
If you have installed it, uninstall it and refer to the warnas.net link
above if you have any problems.

> ... when I hit Record another one is opend and actually shows the recording. Is this
> normal? ...

Yes, Audacity always records in a new track, so no need to open a new
track first. The only exception to this is the current Audacity Beta (1.3.6)
which will append recording to the end of the selected track(s) if you
hold SHIFT while clicking Record, or use the SHIFT + R shortcut.

You only see the coloured border round the track that Allistair mentioned ,
with the Audacity Beta (1.3.x) line. That border is yellow in the current
1.3.6, not green - maybe you should upgrade to 1.3.6, Allistair?
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

Gale

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Allistair Bywater

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

Hi Gale,

>
> You only see the coloured border round the track that Allistair mentioned
> ,
> with the Audacity Beta (1.3.x) line. That border is yellow in the current
> 1.3.6, not green - maybe you should upgrade to 1.3.6, Allistair?
> http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
>

Umm... thought I had! I'll get it now. Tks.

Kind Regards

Allistair
ra.bywater@...

----- Original Message -----
From: <gale@...>
To: <audacity-users@...>
Sent: 08 November 2008 17:59
Subject: Re: [Audacity-users] Monitoring input level??

>
> On Sat, 8 Nov 2008 05:39:14 -0800 (PST)
> mamamia1 <mamamia1@...> wrote:
>> Gale (Audacity Team) wrote:
>> > mamamia1 wrote:
>> >> ... In order to try working with Audacity I''ve made a recording (usb
>> >> Samsom
>> >> Q1U Mic) of me playing accoustical guitar, which went fine.
>> >> A second recording, which I want to add to the first one, is the same
>> >> (little) piece but played in chords. Monitoring the input level it
>> >> isn't
>> >> possible to get by the -25 (or lower) db up to -12db as suggested in
>> >> http://en.flossmanuals.net/Audacity/RecordingASound a manual I've
>> >> gone
>> >> through. As a result the playback sound is very weak on it's own and
>> >> cann't be heard when I playback both tracks.
>> >>
>> >> Vista Home Premium... recording device in preferences are set to
>> >> 'built-in
>> >> audio. It doesn't make any difference if I set reording device to Q1U
>> >> mic.
>> >
>> > If you still want to record from the Samson Mic, then at "Recording
>> > Device" in the Audio I/O tab of Audacity Preferences, you need to
>> > select
>> > "Samson USB codec" or whatever the microphone is called. You should
>> > then
>> > be able to use the right-hand slider in the Mixer Toolbar:
>> > http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/toolbar_mixer.htm
>> >
>> > to adjust the input volume. If that slider has no effect, then go to
>> > the
>> > http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Windows_Vista_OS#Using_the_Control_Panel_to_select.2Fenable_recording_devices
>> > Windows Control Panel , select the Samson, right-click over it, hit
>> > "Properties" and set the level on the "Levels" tab. If you see "AGC" or
>> > "volume boost", enable it...
>>
>> Thanks for the info. Leveling the mic in Windows Control Panel did it.
>
> This still presumably means that you can't adjust the mic level in
> Audacity. This might be poor USB compatibility in Vista, or have
> you installed the Samson SoftPre control applet?
> http://www.samsontech.com/main/misc.cfm?pageID=45
>
> There are reports that this software and the drivers it installs prevent
> recording at a decent volume:
> http://www.warnas.net/welcome/index.php/2005/12/01/samson-c01u-usb-microphone/
>
> and in any case Samson themselves say it is incompatible with Vista.
> If you have installed it, uninstall it and refer to the warnas.net link
> above if you have any problems.
>
>
>> ... when I hit Record another one is opend and actually shows the
>> recording. Is this
>> normal? ...
>
> Yes, Audacity always records in a new track, so no need to open a new
> track first. The only exception to this is the current Audacity Beta
> (1.3.6)
> which will append recording to the end of the selected track(s) if you
> hold SHIFT while clicking Record, or use the SHIFT + R shortcut.
>
> You only see the coloured border round the track that Allistair mentioned
> ,
> with the Audacity Beta (1.3.x) line. That border is yellow in the current
> 1.3.6, not green - maybe you should upgrade to 1.3.6, Allistair?
> http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
>
>
>
> Gale
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's
> challenge
> Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great
> prizes
> Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the
> world
> http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
> --
> Mailing list: Audacity-users@...
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, use the form at the bottom of this web page:
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/audacity-users

Allistair Bywater

Re: Monitoring input level??

Reply Threaded

In reply to this post by Gale (Audacity Team)

Hi All,

>
> You only see the coloured border round the track that Allistair mentioned
> ,
> with the Audacity Beta (1.3.x) line. That border is yellow in the current
> 1.3.6, not green - maybe you should upgrade to 1.3.6, Allistair?
> http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
>
>
> Umm... thought I had! I'll get it now. Tks.
>

Is there any way to prevent 1.3.6 Audacity opening new instances of the
program. Some uses clutter up my task bar something awful!

Was this high on the wanted list?

Kind Regards

Allistair
ra.bywater@...

----- Original Message -----
From: <gale@...>
To: <audacity-users@...>
Sent: 08 November 2008 17:59
Subject: Re: [Audacity-users] Monitoring input level??