Solved Effect of speaker icon (in notif area of taskbar) on recording levels

[Vargzz]

Hi, can someone please tell me if adjusting the volume level control (NOT the mixer controls) has any effect on the recording volume? I've always thought it only affected the Monitoring (listening) level but I'm not sure. I'm currently converting some m3p files by playing them on my PC and recording into a recording program to produce mp3 files. During the recording process I adjusted the level control to a more comfortable level. Would appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

[fireberd]

In your case yes it will affect the recording level. The recording/converter is using "what you hear" (Stereo Mix) so adjusting the volume level will affect the recording level.

 

[Vargzz]

Thanks for clarifying this for me! In that case do you have any advice on how I should set the recording level?

 

[fireberd]

The free "Audacity" will do what you want without having to "record" the song first. Just Open/Import into Audacity and then "Export" as MP3. I just tried it with a song file (see screenshot below).

 

[Vargzz]

Thanks for this Fireberd. So if I use Audacity, does it matter what level the volume control is set to? It sounds from what you're saying that it doesn't (coz it's not actually recording anything). Sorry for being pedantic but I'm at a fairly basic knowledge level with this stuff.

 

[fireberd]

Short answer, NO. You can modify the level inside Audacity if wanted, but what volume you have for listening does not affect the audio file.

 

[Vargzz]

Thx again fireberd. Just one last question - if I use a conversion program like Audacity, will the quality of the resulting file be degraded slightly?

 

[fireberd]

If you use a low bitrate it will. I use 192Kbps for my MP3's and it is pretty good. I have a recording studio so I deal in high fidelity and wav files, mostly.

 

[Vargzz]

Thanks for all this info. It's been very helpful!

 

[fireberd]

Good luck. If you have any problems or questions, post back.

Jack

 

[Vargzz]

No doubt there will be plenty of problems along the way.
Cheers Jack!
Gabrielle