Hi Mike,
Thanks for clarifying.
Do you hear the mic at a good level out of the Claretteās headphone jack or is it quiet through that too? If the microphoneās input is indicting constant clipping, then the input level from the SM58 canāt be the issue, so I would assume itās okay through headphones?
On your Windows sound mixer, do you see plenty of level coming through there? (right click speaker icon bottom right of desktop, select open volume mixer)
Also, could be worth opening in the Windows Sounds Panel (right click speaker icon again and select Sounds). Find it under the recording tab, got to properties and check the tabs to ensure no āaudio enhancementsā or āAGCā settings are enabled.
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Very good idea. I just tried it. MAybe the behavior Iām seeing is typical, I have never attempted to use an AI before. This is the behavior:
The gain knob on the AI channel (mic) input goes from 1 to 10 .
On the Y axis (volume) of the Sound Recorder graph, If the knob is on 10, I can easily reach full amplitude on the Sound Recorder, I can also easily clip my voice when talking into the mic if I try to, If I drop the gain knob to 9, the best I can do is about 1/2 the full amplitude. If I drop the gain knob to 8 I get about 1/2 again etc etc. In other words it appears the gain knob numbers are logarithmic (which of course makes sense, it is āgainā).
What surprises me though is that I need the knob to be at 10 (turned all or nearly all the way up to record with Audacity. Is this normal??
I dont mic myself but that does not sound normal.
Gain shouldnt be logarithmic ?
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I need the gain knob on the AI and the gain control on Audacity mic control to both be nearly all the way up of what gets recorded is a tiny bump on the Audacity graph. All or nothing. Weird thing is the difference between 9 and 10 (lets say is huge).
Good suggestion. Unfortunately I donāt have a headphone to try. Iāll see if I can round one up. Iām going to try your other suggestion. But it;ll have to wait till tomorrow, been at this wayyy to long today so far. Thanks.
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hmm
" Due to this, if you have a dynamic mic and are not getting enough level , it is often a popular choice to add an in-line preamp to the chain"
Thanks for looking that up. If that is the problem my wife is going to love my throwing another 100$ at this. The mic is also brand new. I was wondering if it could be defective. Unfortunately I have no way to test it.
Do you have a guitar? Plug that in and see if the AI works.
Only an acoustic. The plan was to get the SM58 for my vocals, then get the SM57 or perhaps go a guitar pickup route. But unfortunately, nothing else to try.
Hopefully someone on here with a 2i2 or something and an SM58 can help
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I use a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 with an SM58 mic for vocals and have no problem getting level. I do have the input gain knob up about 3/4s of the way but then the level in Reaper is left at the default. From what I can see there isnāt a huge difference between the Scarletts and the Clarettes, other than the latter being a bit of a step up, so I could do a test with Audacity when I get home and let you know the results (assuming no one else has solved the mystery before then 
).
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Much appreciate.
The guy I bought it from wants to blame Audacity. If that is what it turns out to be Iāll need to find another free DAW I suppose.
hit up reaper or something see how it works.
and it shoudl work like a standard mic
which model of focusrite is it exactly?
Hi Mike,
I did a quick test and can confirm good level in Audacity using just the following signal path:
SM58->Scarlett 4i4 analogue input 2->Windows 11 PC USB input->Audacity
I just freshly installed Audacity so other than changing what input and output was selected in the audio settings, I left everything else as default.
I spoke directly into the mic (basically touching as I typically do if recording vocals with it) and had the Scarlettās input approx. 75% (almost clipping so probably couldāve dialed it back a little).
If your Clarette is a 2017 model then a possible difference I guess is that my Scarlett is about a year old 3rd gen so maybe there have been some improvements over the generations?
Hereās some screenshots in case useful:
Just reach out if you want me to test anything else or provide any other info 
Hi Jeff, I canāt thank you enough for this head to head comparison.
I hope my image gets attached properly. In the image the microphone slider control is at 100% in Audacity (same as yours I believe). All other settings are the same as yours as well, best I can tell.
In the top recording my Clarette Gain Knob is at 7.5 (mic nearly touching my lips and talking quite loud and firm).
Next recording is at 9.0
Last is at 10 (all the way up).
Based on this, it seems I would agree with your assessment. There has been a change in the Focusrite.
You, being miles ahead of me in the recording world, Iād like to ask a couple of questions.
The guy I bought this from is going to strongly suggest I get a pre-amp (he already mildly suggested it). IYO, is this a reasonable solution? I wonder based on these findings if I am just going to be plagued by this as I try to move forward with the AI.
Iād prefer to get my money back on this (maybe offer him some for his aggravation and take a percentage back of what I paid) and buy a Scarlette from Sweetwater (or similiar) and get online support and be able to return it if defective (doubt it will be).
If he doesnāt agree to my terms and I donāt think he will, Iām stuck with this and will need to go the pre-amp route I guess for now. Your opinion, would you be disappointed in this test result, or am I making too big a deal out of it and should just adjust accordingly using a pre-amp.
Thanks again Jeff, Iād be completely in the dark if you didnāt take the time!
I was seduced by the quality of the specs of C vs S and really donāt need it. Being a beginner my mistakes and lack of quality of playing swamps and gain Iād get from the old Clarette vs a new Scarlette anyway. I paid about as much as a new 2 channel Scarlette for this AI.
Thanks again
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It seems suspicious to me that you can get a good record level in Voice Recorder, but not in Audacity.
Is that correct?
If so, I think you do need to try a DAW (Audacity is a sophisticated audio recorder and editor, but itās not really a DAW).
Cheers,
Keith
Hi Keith, Thanks for the reply. The results from āsound recorderā was pretty similiar to Audacity. Iād have to have the gain knob pegged at 10 in order to get any usable volume. Once dropped to 9,8,7 etc the captured recording was cut in more than half.
Audacity is the first and only recording software (outside dabbling with GarageBand) I have used. If I must go to another DAW I will but I have grown pretty accustomed to Audacity and would be disappointed to have to go thru the learning curve on another application.
Iām open to suggestions though. Even willing to pay a bit for one if the value compared to free packages makes it worth it.
Do you have some wiggle between 9 and 10?
make sure you are singing loudly right in front of the mic etc when testing.
No not really. At 10 I can speak loudly into the mic and get a significant waveform with my mic almost touching my lips. At 9 I get maybe 25-45% of what I see at 10. Just a little bumps on the graph.
What I am learning as I go thru this process is that the SM58 (even in a fully good working mic/AI unit) the mic needs to be almost touching the singers lips. This has me wondering, is this the best mic for the singer/acoustic guitar player? I am a relative beginner/intermediate player. Even with a good stand this appears itāll be difficult getting used to. Especially if I am reading lyrics and chords if I donāt them have committed to memory.
Might there be a better microphone selection for me? I have heard condensor mics can be difficult and highly sensitive to things. I was told āthey never seem to act the same way twiceā by a sound engineer who does this for a living. Which is why I went with the SM58. It seems to come highly recommended.
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