Matti wrote:I've finally managed to get clear recording, but it is to quiet. I wonder is there a possibility to change ossrecord volume.
Yes. If, for example, you replace your headset with Sennheiser PC 131 Headset.
You might have learned in the primary school that copper and gold are good conductors of electric current, especially pure copper and pure gold. That is why Sennheiser headphones and microphones are extremely loud. There is always a warning that you can easily make yourself deaf with Sennheiser devices, if you are stupid enough to ignore instructions and do not set loudness to minimal levels. Furthermore, Sennheiser microphones do not have "noise filters". This is another reason for their loudness.
Moreover, Sennheiser headphones for audiophiles do not have any "in-line volume controls", because such things reduce sound quality (and they also reduce loudness). Even the cheapest Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones (22 EURO in amazon.de) do not have any "in-line volume controls" (they are extremely loud).
In any case, the general rule is: short cables and clean contacts.Sennheiser PC 131 Headset (42 Euro in amazon.de)
http://www.amazon.de/Sennheiser-PC-131- ... 418&sr=8-1Sennheiser PC 131 Headset
http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/ho ... s_pc_musicKeep in mind that it is not robust (otherwise, it might be much more expensive).
It was reported that is can be easily broken, if you carry it around without precautions.
If you need something more reliable, you may try more expensive ones (the key words are "voice recognition").
But is it really so quiet? From my experience, it is perfectly possible to record sound with any cheap analog mic on a notebook with HDA and OSS4. My wife is perfectly happy with Logitech ANALOG DESKTOP Mikrofon (13 Euro). It seems to be robust. It has noise filter. The mic is omni-directional
http://www.amazon.de/Logitech-980240-09 ... 141&sr=1-2Usually, OSS4 mixers have one (or even two) additional "controls" with which to regulate loudness of the mic.
On my old box, there are three controls for mic loudness:
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mic <monovol> (currently 100)
igain [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 100:100)
micboost ON|OFF (currently OFF)
I do not use "micboost", because it amplifies noise.
Both "mic" and "igain" are set to maximum for Sennheiser microphone (!).
On this particular old box mic is relatively quiet. On other old boxes mics are too loud (with OSS4).
If a signal is very weak it should be "muffled". You need a signal which is much louder than electro-magnetic noise, than the evil 50Hz (or 60Hz in US), and background noise. If, for example, I record with Sennheiser uni-directional mic (that of Sennheiser PC 131 Headset), the evil 50Hz are below -70dB (after normalization!). This mean that noise is not audible, you do not need to apply any noise removal, or "notch filter", but you have to remove DC offset. This can be done with Audacity: Effect → Normalize (DC offset removal is enabled by default).
Your mic controls might be these ones:
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jack.pink.mode <front|rear|center/LFE|side|pcm4|input> (currently input)
jack.pink [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 29.9:29.9 dB)
jack.pink.mute ON|OFF (currently OFF)
jack.fp-pink.mode <front|rear|center/LFE|side|pcm4|input> (currently input)
jack.fp-pink [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0.0:0.0 dB)
jack.fp-pink.mute ON|OFF (currently ON)
record.mix.mute.input-mix1 ON|OFF (currently ON)
record.mix1 [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0.0:0.0 dB)
record.mix.mute.input-mix2 ON|OFF (currently OFF)
record.mix2 [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 46.4:46.4 dB)
misc.mic [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0.0:0.0 dB)
misc.fp-mic [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 46.4:46.4 dB)
You have to study them with "trial and error".
Your guides are your "ossmix", "ossinfo" and "ossinfo -v9". You have to study them and try to understand the "secret esoteric meaning" of each line. Otherwise, the ritual of "trial and error" may go astray.
This is strange:
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jack.fp-pink [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0.0:0.0 dB)
jack.fp-pink.mute ON|OFF (currently ON)
Why did you mute it and set to zero? Does it produce noise?
Have you tried to record from "mic"?
It seems that you are recording from "fp-mic":
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misc.input-mix <mic|fp-mic|linein|int-cd> (currently fp-mic)
This is also strange:
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record.mix.mute.input-mix1 ON|OFF (currently ON)
record.mix1 [<leftvol>:<rightvol>] (currently 0.0:0.0 dB)
Which device is used for recording?
Your recording devices are:
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HD Audio rec mix /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcmin0 (device index 6) → /dev/dsp_in
HD Audio rec mix /dev/oss/oss_hdaudio0/pcmin1 (device index 7)
"6" is your default /dev/dsp → /dev/dsp_in
It is preferable to record from "6" directly (-d6), because /dev/dsp is attached to the virtual mixer (vmix). Notice that "vmix" is a kind of PulseAudio, it may produce noise.
