NEED HELP: Microphone recording volume very low, but only in Audition

[Skizza306]

This is a weird one, I've been trying to figure it out for most of the past two weeks to no avail.

If I record a track in Audition, the sound comes out incredibly low. Like barely even audible, tiny waveforms, etc. even if my gain and output on my mic pre-amp are cranked all the way up, and my recording volume in WIndows settings is turned all the way up.

However if I open Audacity or Sony Music Studio (without changing any settings in between) it records at the appropriate/expected volume for the gain settings.  The issue only occurs within Audition. 

What could possibly be causing this problem?

For what it's worth I'm using an Audio-Technica 2020 microphone, which is connected via XLR to an A.R.T. Project Series Tube MP which is then connected to the PC via USB, and my computer is running Windows 7 Professional. 

Any ideas or insight would be helpful, I'm pretty much at my wit's end here. 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

skizza306  wrote

For what it's worth I'm using an Audio-Technica 2020 microphone, which is connected via XLR to an A.R.T. Project Series Tube MP which is then connected to the PC via USB, and my computer is running Windows 7 Professional. 

What driver are you using? ASIO or one of the Windows ones? This is likely to be driver or settings-related; Audition is very good at recording exactly what it's sent, so it's very likely that what is causing this is going to be because you're using a different driver. Given a free choice, Audition always prefers ASIO - the engine's ASIO-based so no conversions are necessary.

[ryclark]

It would help us help you if you could post a screen garb of the Audition Audio Hardware preferences page to see what you have selected for your audio drivers.

[Skizza306]

Does this help? 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

What drivers do the other bits of software use?

The thing about ASIO is that it punches a way straight through the OS, and none of the OS-based volume controls will affect it in the slightest. That is, assuming it's the USB version of the ART preamp you're using. Is this correct?

[Skizza306]

Okay I just checked and it looks like Sony Studio is using Microsoft Sound Mapper rather than the ASIO drivers (I hadn't touched it since I switched to using Audition until I used it to try and test/figure out this current problem the other day)

[Skizza306]

And yes it's the USB version of the ART preamp, sorry. 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Having now looked more closely at your hardware settings, I can tell that you aren't using the ART ASIO driver at all - you're using the ASIO4ALL one - which means that everything is going via the OS. Does the ART show up directly in the 'Device' menu? If it does, try using that...

[Skizza306]

So the ART device wasn't listed in the device menu, so I went to their website, found the preamp I'm using and installed the associated drivers, now it does appear in the list. I selected it instead of the ASIO4All but I'm still experiencing the same problem.  I also completely uninstalled and reinstalled Audition earlier today while I was working on this, still no effect. 

[ryclark]

What do the level LEDs on the ART preamp show your level as? I would expect the -15dBFS LEd to been on most of the time with the occasional flicker from the -7 one. You should also see similar levels in Audition on it's meters, although this won't appear to fully fill the waveform. This is normal when recording. You can boost the levels when editing if you need to without causing any problems.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Still having trouble with your mic, Skizza306? Let us know.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Mac-Centric]

Hello, I had this very same problem with the same microphone, and just figured it out, though I am using a Mac and not a PC. Perhaps it will still help, though. When I went into system settings, and chose the microphone as my audio input device, over the inbuilt microphone, it allowed me to set the input recording levels there. I played around with them a bit in Audition, and got them adjusted. Once I did that; I was all set. Hope this helps.

[Mac-Centric]

PS, to clarify, I did all the adjusting in the system settings, and recorded some sample voice tracks in Audition, until I got the exact setting right in the system audio settings. There wasn't a setting I could change actually in Audition. It was all through the computer's audio input level settings, that made it work.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Couple of things: it's different on a Mac. They aggregate all the devices available and in theory at least you shouldn't have this problem once you've got it set up correctly, as you've discovered. The situation with PCs is pretty much completely different.

The second thing is that this is a 2 1/2 year old thread now, and I hope he figured out the answer in his own case some time ago!

[Mac-Centric]

1. If Adobe had provided an answer to this question in their tutorials, this thread would not exist.

2. I use both Macs and PCs, so don't assume I do not know the difference. 

3. There was never a definitive answer to this question; hence, my post.

4. I found the thread helpful, even though I use a Mac, even though it was old, and even though there was never a good answer to the questions for that particular user. Maybe someone else will as well.

5. These threads are for the whole community, not just the single user who posts them.

6. See #3.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

1. If Adobe provided all the information that could ever be asked about, then this forum wouldn't need to be here. They simply can't, and anyway the cost of doing that much would inevitably make the software more expensive.
2. You will have a lot of difficulty showing me where any assumption has been made.
3. There may well have been a definitive answer given, but since the OP hasn't been back, we don't know. But after 2 1/2 years, we can reasonably assume that he's not having the problem any more, or moved on to something else.
4. Perfectly fine answers were given - you can't make a claim like that.
5. I think you have picked up on the wrong point here about threads, especially when it comes to others finding them useful. It's a point that I regularly have to express to anybody who asks me to come up with solutions to anything in a PM, and it's this: If you have questions, please ask them on the forum, so that everybody gets the benefit of any answers.

But there is another significant issue with this, and it comes about when people look for answers which might be there, but they can't find them. And that is that it's much easier to search for something if the thread containing it concentrates on just that issue. In this case it's a PC issue, not a Mac one. So anybody looking for your solution is unlikely to find it, simply due to the way the search engine 'works' (debatable...)

The upshot of this is that it's much easier to search for answers if threads don't go off at a tangent, and that's what we encourage people to do if they have an issue; start a new thread and not try to tag it onto the end of another one, especially if it isn't strictly relevant.