HI GUYS
Okay, so I've refrained from asking on a forum, especially Newgrounds, because I feel sort of stupid and it's probably the most simple issue ever. But here goes.
I have a Samson CO1U USB Condenser microphone. A lot of the time it's fine and records at a normal gain, sometimes I have to turn the input down a little or make sure I'm not too close to it to avoid the audio going into the red. Now bear in mind I've had this microphone for quite a while now. Occasionally, I'll switch my laptop on and plug it in and the gain will be right down. Like, -20db. This will last for a few months and then randomly one day I'll plug it in and it'll be back to normal.
I've never managed to work out how or why it does this and for this few months period, I can't really record instruments acoustically because having to turn it up +17db brings more hiss than it usually would. Recording vocals is... okay I guess, but not as clear as it would be if it were recording normally, once again because of the extra hiss and the extra effects needed to make the vocals as clear as possible. Now that the NGADM Round 1 has commenced, I thought it would be a good idea to try and fix this.
So, first thing I immediately thought due to the amount it dropped by was perhaps it had something to do with the "Boost" function that you click to make the input always +20 and that perhaps that had somehow been unchecked. I go into the properties for the microphone and go to the "levels" tab where the microphone boost is for my laptop's internal microphone, however, there isn't any microphone boost.
I have three USB ports on my laptop and the case is the same with all of them. Perhaps one of you might hold the secret to my problem!