#Audacity listen while recording full#
#Audacity listen while recording software#
#Audacity listen while recording windows#

You’ll see a dropdown menu that will probably have “2 channel, 24 bit, 44100 (or 48000) Hz (Studio Quality)” selected as the default. Then click on “Properties.” In the Properties panel, click on the Advanced tab. Once there, click on your interface, which should be the default (green check mark). Select “Sounds.” Then in the panel that shows up, click on the Recording Tab.

#Audacity listen while recording windows#

In Windows (where this problem seems to be most prominent), navigate your way to “ Manage Audio Devices.” Probably the fastest way to do get there is to right-click on the speaker icon in the far right of the taskbar. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of splitting and deleting every track every time you record, worry not. But in reality, it takes like 10 seconds to do it. This workaround may have sounded complex. this will leave you with a single mono track with your voice (or whatever you were recording) at the proper level. The final step in the workaround is to simply delete the blank track by clicking on the “X” in the upper left corner of the track control panel on the left. But all the audio will be on one channel. This will result in a 2-channel “stereo” track. So change the selection in the dropdown from “1 (Mono) Recording Channel” to 2 (Stereo) Recording Channels. Technically you are, because the interface is sending a stereo signal even for a single voice. Before you record, tell Audacity you’re recording a stereo signal. But it involves sort of tricking Audacity. There is a way to actually record at the proper level. Now that I know what I should not do, what are the things I should do to solve the problem? The Workaround If you always have to record something, and then add the step of “turning it up” as a matter of course, it is a lot of wasted effort. But secondly, this will get to be a huge pain. The first reason for this is that you are likely to increase the background noise for that audio. Do not just increase the level of the audio in Audacity after the fact with the Amplify effect or the volume control on the track.You run the danger of overloading it, which would result in distorted audio EVEN WITH a small waveform. Do not turn up the gain knob on the interface.

#Audacity listen while recording software#

Some software programs just want to see stereo input if they are hooked up a 2-channel/2-mic input interface. I’ve been having trouble with Camtasia (screen recording software) recording only on the left side for years! But I didn’t realize this was the same problem. And that leads to the small, hard-to-hear waveform in the Audacity track.Īnd BTW, this is NOT just an Audacity thing. But either way, the result is a much-reduced level. But since my result was a one-third reduction (-30 dB vs -20 dB), I’m not sure that is correct. I’ve read that it’s trying to cut it in half. And it thinks it needs to reduce the input level… by a LOT. But since it is getting a stereo signal from the Scarlett interface, it sees a discrepancy. Since you have chosen “1 (Mono)” in the Audacity toolbar, it thinks you are recording a mono signal. That is the first issue.īut then Audacity does something odd. That means Audacity sees a stereo signal, even when you THINK you’re sending it a mono signal. It turns out that most 2-input interface units send all audio to the computer as stereo signals by default – regardless of how many mics you have plugged in. First of all, this isn’t ALL Audacity’s fault. If you thought that – like I did – you’d be wrong. It makes total sense that if you are recording a single voice into a single microphone plugged into a single microphone input on a recording interface, you’d choose “Mono.” Because, well, you’re recording a mono thing! There is a dropdown in Audacity’s toolbar where you choose between “1 (Mono) Recording Channel,” and “2 (Stereo) Recording Channels. Audacity has a weird conversion thing it does when it sees a stereo signal coming in, AND you choose the option (in Audacity) to record in mono. So Why Is This Happening?Īfter many days of searching for causes, I found the cause. The solutions and workarounds in this post work for both programs (and, I’m sure, any other program with this issue). [UPDATE: A very similar problem has been happening in Camtasia software for years and I only now realized it as the same basic cause. I’ve heard similar stories from others who are using interfaces with 2 mic inputs. This was a mystery to me, and only started happening when I updated Audacity to version 3.1. So this is a 10 dB difference! That means Audacity is lowering the level of the incoming signal by 10 dB. and the closer to zero you get, the louder it is. Remember in digital audio, things are measured in negative numbers. The Adobe Audition version’s average level was -20.47 LUFS.

#Audacity listen while recording full#

If you want the stats to compare, the Audacity version had an average level of -30.33 LUFS ( Loudness Unit Full Scale).