Captivate 12.3 Software Simulation - Narration too quiet, calibrate has no effect

[Tichelle_Berg]

I'm trying to record a software simulation (Demo) with narration with Captivate 12.3 on my Windows 11 laptop.

Unfortunately, no matter which microphone I select and calibrate, the audio captured is so faint that I can barely hear about every 10th word. In all the times I've attempted to calibrate, only once did I see green flash on the Input Level indicator bar, and it never came close to "Good".

I get the same result regardless of which microphone I select. I've used a desktop mic, a headset mic, my laptop mic, my webcam mic, and the mic built into my video conferencing monitor. 

Thoughts on this?

[Lilybiri]

Personally I continue to use software simulation in Captivate Classic for many reasons. Workflow is the same but there are less bugs and limitations.

Did you try to edit the audio volume? There are some options within Captivate. Sorry, I rarely use them because I prefer to optimize the audio clips in Audition. In Captivate Classic that is very easy because you have the Library and the roundtripping with Audition. Another feature which is not available in version 12.3.

May I also recommed to log your issue as a bug in the user voice platform? You can go there from within Captivate, it is an option under the Help menu.

[Tichelle_Berg]

Hi, @Lilybiri  - editing the audio volume was not helpful, either.

I'll definitely log the issue.

[Lilybiri]

I hope this is indeed a bug, and you'll get a fix quickly.

If you are looking meanwhile for a workaround: since it is a sim, which is slide-based you should be able to detect the audio clips in the Timeline. There is no Library to find them, but I suppose you can edit the audio clip, which doesn't need to be in Audition. You can use Audacity which is free if you do not have a CC subscription.

[Tichelle_Berg]

I do have Audacity and will probably use it for a workaround.

Unfortunately, I CANNOT report this as a bug. The site wants me to manually log in, and my employer uses an automatic sign-in for Adobe, so I don't have control of my password and can't submit my post.

[Lilybiri]

You can log in with a Google account as well, it doesn't need to be an Adobe ID.

[Tichelle_Berg]

Thank you for the reminder. I dislike crossover from personal Google account to the Adobe account I have for work, but I did it this time, anyway. It's posted.

[RodWard]

I never find the Auto Calibrate works well enough.  I always experiment with adjusting the Preamplifier Value manually until I find a value that seems to give a strong enough waveform for a particular microphone.

Once you find a value that gives you good audio without clipping (cutting off sounds that are too loud) you should be good to go.

The setting you see above is what I use for my podcast quality microphone.

[Tichelle_Berg]

Thanks, @RodWard ! I've used that functionality in Classic Captivate, but it's not available in the new Captivate. Yet. I'm going to say "yet" with hope 🙂 

[Exoptohm390675494ka5]

Check your Windows settings to make sure your mic levels aren't too low. Sometimes, other apps can mess with your mic settings, too.

[Exoptohm390675494ka5]

Also, turn off any background noise reduction or automatic gain control in your mic settings. These can mess with your audio levels.
If that doesn't fix it, you might want to look into a CPaaS solution. It can give you more control over your audio and video setup, which might help with the issues you're having with Captivate.

[Tichelle_Berg]

My settings are all good, thanks for the suggestions. My mic sounds great in any other application. Unfortunately, what's happening is that the calibration meter doesn't even move for me in CP 12.3.  I've reported it as a bug and have reset my preferences. That made the calibration meter respond, but the only way I can get audio recorded in CP 12.3 is to max out the physical gain on my mic, and then once the audio is recorded, go slide by slide and double the volume. And it's still really bad audio (of course it is, with the gain maxed). At any rate, this is still ongoing and I'm waiting to address this further with the bug fixers.