New
#1
What are your sound settings for recording music?
I use my onboard sound chip - Realtek ALC1200 - and Nero 9 Wave Editor for recording music to mp3 on my PC.
What I am experimenting with is how to use the various volume settings to achieve the best results. I'd like to know what others that record music this way do.
There are 5 volume controls to play with:
1. The "Stereo Mix" device has a "Levels" tab with a volume slider. Mine is set at 100%.
2. The "Speakers" device has a "Levels" tab with a volume slider. This control is also adjusted by using the Windows "Mixer" slider and the "Realtek HD Audio Manager" slider. It doesn't matter which of the 3 you use, they all change simultaneously. Mine is set at 50%.
3. In Nero Wave Editor there is an "Input Level (db)" meter and a slider. This slider has little effect on the volume level readings on the "Input Level (db)" meter. My slider is set at 100%.
4. On the website where I am listening to the music there is a volume slider. On most sites this slider is set at either 50% or 100%.
5. My Logitech speakers have a physical volume control. This obviously does not control the recording volume level, but it does control what I hear.
When I record I am using a combination of the "Speakers" volume control (2) and the websites volume control (4) to adjust the recording level in the Wave Editor. I try and keep the meter levels in the yellow and out of the red. To get a good reading the volume of my speakers is very low; I have to crank up my Volume Control (5) to hear well. After recording, the "Peak File" graph shows the wave form falling approx. between -35 and +35 (low volume). But there is no clipping. I use "MP3 Gain" to correct this low volume and equalize all my MP3's to a relative 93db. After adding the MP3 Gain the wave form falls approx. between -75 and +75 in Nero Wave Editor.
The sound of my MP3's is good but this seems like a lot of extra steps to get a good recording. So that's why I'm asking the question. How are other people doing this stuff? Is a real sound card the answer? Or am I going about this all wrong?
Thanks for any advice you can give.
(Please let me know if this belongs in a different forum)