Microsoft Windows Setup

Report · Dec 08, 2023

Hello!

Really hoping someone can help before I tear my hair out. I've been frantically searching the forums and googling, but I can't find a really simple troubleshooting guide / steps.

I bought a Windows laptop rather than a Mac for Audition as I'm more familiar with windows so thought I could get started faster. I've had an absolute nightmare getting it to record single track audio in Audition.

I'm struggling with how to set the mic input level in the windows settings. Too low and I'm yelling into that mic even with gain turned up on the audio interface. If I turn the gain up too high the levels are ok but I get distortion and hissing in the recording. There may well be something else going on too but I don't know where to start with checking.

This is my Windows spec:

OPERATING SYSTEM

Windows 11 Home

PROCESSOR

Intel® Core™ i5 12500H (12th Generation)

MEMORY

16 GB RAM

STORAGE

512 GB SSD

DISPLAY

39.6 cm (15.6"), FHD (1920 x 1080), 9 ms response time

GRAPHICS

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 4050 (6 GB)

I would be eternally grateful for any pointers!

Report · Dec 08, 2023

You listed everything except what audio interface your using - so I assume you are using the onboard sound
Probably not the best thing to do - an external audio unit is usually best
Either way you will need to go to Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware and make sure things are ok there
ie select the device and if possible an ASIO driver
Then you need to setup the Audio Channel Mapping
Audition only records what is presented to it from the hardware so the gain structure is crucial
Apart from all that the best advice would be to get a good external audio interface

Report · Dec 08, 2023

Thanks so much for your reply.

I forgot the rest of my kit! It's:

Audio interface: behringer u-phoria umc 22

Mic: Sennheiser MK4 Professional Microphone

I've tried the ASIOforall driver but when I selected it it wiped out all my other settings in audio hardware and nothing worked 😞

Report · Dec 08, 2023

I believe that that unit requires the ASIO4All driver and once installed that is the driver you would select in Audition
This might be a handy guide
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/behringer-audio-interface-setup-guide/#:~:text=Althoug....

Report · Dec 08, 2023

Thank you!

Report · Dec 08, 2023

As for the sensitivity issue - I've read that like a lot of Sennheisers, the MK4 output is pretty hot. And it doesn't appear to have a built-in pad either. So you are going to have to be careful when running it into the UMC22, because that's one of the ones in that range that doesn't have a pad switch on the front end. What that means in practice is that setting the gain is going to be fiddly. If this goes on being a problem, then purchasing an in-line 10 or even 20dB attenuator might be the way to go - that would let you advance the gain control a little, into the range its got more resolution in. What you should be aiming for is to be able to speak to the mic from about 9-10 inches away and have the gain control at around the 1 o'clock position and the overload light not flashing at all.

Amazon sell the attenuators - other stores are almost certainly available too.

Report · Dec 08, 2023

Many thanks, I will have a look at attenuators!