Question Different Recording Volumes on 2 PCs

[Arzhur]

I'm working with two models of PCs at work, a Dell Optiplex SFF 5060 and a Dell Optiplex SFF 7010. I'm trying to record sounds with them, a tuning fork in this case (but same issue with other sounds), but both of them are recording at two very different levels. Both microphones are the same (and I've tried swapping different ones). I have tried using both Audacity and the simple Microsoft Voice Recorder app. In both cases, the 5060 is recording at about a 10th of the level of the 7010. I am trying to get the quieter 5060 to have a similar volume to the 7010, so that it's visible on Audacity. I have access to multiple of each model and the behavior is grouped per model. Here's a link to what both sound signals look like.

Both PCs are running Windows 10 22H2 and I've run Dell's update software on both of them. The 7010 has Realtek driver 6.0.9597.1, while the 5060 has driver 6.0.8710.1, so that would indicate that I have two different on-board audio chips. I tried using an external sound card on both PCs, and the level for both was closer to the quieter 5060. This leads me to believe that it's the on-board audio chip that has a lower gain on the 5060. The microphone volume is set to max (the 5060 has a boost gain, which I tried setting to the max of +30 DB, but that didn't really help).

Do you any of you have any suggestions, or is it as I fear and I'm constrained by the hardware, i.e. the onboard audio?

 

[Lutfij]

a Dell Optiplex SFF 5060 and a Dell Optiplex SFF 7010.
https://objects.icecat.biz/objects/mmo_57860940_1528204864_4081_11185.pdf
Says this has a Realtek ALC3234
+
https://www.dell.com/support/manual...78b68f-ccfb-4c6a-9f62-3ed941403f53&lang=en-us
Says this has a Realtek ALC3246-CG

See if you can manipulate some fields on Waves MaxxAudio Pro.

 

[Arzhur]

Thanks. I don't believe that we have it installed (our image is rather bare). When I come in tomorrow I'll see if I can install it and report back.

 

[dwd999]

What difference does it make? In Audacity you just normalize the quieter audio so that its at the same level as the higher one. Effect, Volume and Compression, Amplify. Or Effect, Volume and Compression, Normalize. The whole point of having an audio editor is to fix things like this.

 

[Arzhur]

What difference does it make? In Audacity you just normalize the quieter audio so that its at the same level as the higher one. Effect, Volume and Compression, Amplify. Or Effect, Volume and Compression, Normalize. The whole point of having an audio editor is to fix things like this.

It's in a teaching lab. Having to normalize might be too many extra steps for the students to deal with. You could argue that having different levels is a teachable moment (get them to think why and how to fix it), but my colleagues want to keep it as simple as possible.