I have done everything the n-track help file says, but my recording volume is still low. I am pretty familiar with XP and have done everything possible there. I have tried recording with Windows’ sound recorder and found the same problem. Could it be the sound card? It’s a cheap Genius one that I bought when my Creative 5.1 stopped working. Any help would be appreciated.
I’m sure it can be sorted.
Can you let us know what you’ve got plugged into what, and where, as it’ll give us a better chance at giving specific answers… could be several things.
The sound card is probably the problem - although the mic and a mis-match of impedance, or two mics close together causing sound cancelation call all cause a low listening volume. Remember a microphone plugs into a Pre-amp, an “amplifier” to raise the tiny voltage sent by the microphone. Some mics are more sensitive and send stronger signals. Some preamps have more gain. To me, one of the major issues is how clean is the signal? If you have a signal that is without distortion at -9 you can easily raise the fader in the mixing - but if the signal is “hot” and distorted or clipped there is little you can do. Getting a “hot” signal in digital is not as critical as with analog - there is no mechanical noise of the tape going across the heads. So, with a clean signal/recording you can raise the volume if you need. That said, more information is recorded if you can get the digital signal recorded at a higher level, but generally it’s better to be raising a digital signal than dealing with a clipped one.