Microphone level

ToxicSludge

ToxicSludge

I Love YTtalk
Hi guys

I recently went from using my headset mic to owning a studio grade usb mic.

I was wondering what level I should use to record? I was used to using my headset mic at 100 (max - windows) but when I did this with the usb mic, it was picking up the birds chirping outside as clear as day!

Those of you with decent mics, what level do you normally record at?

(I use Audacity to clean up the audio, normalise etc)
 
I personally use the Blue Yeti, though I find that it's extremely sensitive if I have it at 100%. To the point where the audio isn't clear, it'll be horribly loud and distorted.

So, I had to play around with it. To find a good loud and crisp audio recording. I found that 65 to 75 is typically the perfect amount for me. Not too loud, and everything I say comes out clear as day.
 
Well it really depends, really. I have my Blue Yeti gain at 11' o clock. A lot of tutorials say it is best to be at 0 gain, but my voice sounds better at a higher gain (too high of a gain it distorts). I record about a foot directly away from the mic. It picks up more random noise of course, but it ain't picking up any birds, haha. Then with audacity, I remove the background "air", followed by normalize, compress, equalize, and amplify.
 
Like all the other people who posted, I use a Blue Yeti, and I record it at about 9 O'clock on the gain, and the recording level at 20 in the volume settings. I usually just adjust the bass and compressor in Audacity. I probably should do more, but I don't have any problems with my current system.
 
ToxicSludge said:
Hi guys

I recently went from using my headset mic to owning a studio grade usb mic.

I was wondering what level I should use to record? I was used to using my headset mic at 100 (max - windows) but when I did this with the usb mic, it was picking up the birds chirping outside as clear as day!

Those of you with decent mics, what level do you normally record at?

(I use Audacity to clean up the audio, normalise etc)
Click to expand...
My Blue Snowball doesn't have a built-in volume control, but you can control the mike volume from Audio Settings.
I have it set to 68%, and most of my apps being recorded around 23-28% for a clear voice.
 
You want everything as loud as it can be with no clipping. So, start recording in Audacity (or program of choice) and just start talking. Adjust volume settings up while you're doing that until you see the levels almost clipping but not quite.
 
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