Hello, I have Ableton as audio recording program and I have a shure SM58 microphone. When I a record audio with the microphone the recording sound is not loud and clear. The sound is a kind of muffled and not loud. When I turn the recording input levels up, the record sound clips and the sound gets over the top. I don't know the name for it, it is an awful sound, but it is still a low sound, not loud. Also if I turn the gain button to the edge same is happening. Sound clips, becomes a little bit louder, but not loud, sound is too low. How to solve this problem? Do I need a different microphone? Thanks a lot in advance. Kind regards,

Hi - A '58 should be fine for recording audio -- you should be able to get a decent recorded level with it. When recording with a microphone [in Ableton or any DAW] you'd turn up the input level knob for the mic preamp in the audio interface so the level in the recording track's meter is around halfway to two-thirds of the way up. If the track meter goes into the red then the recording will be distorted [clipped], so make sure the mic input level isn't high enough to cause that. I don't know what you mean by 'gain button', but if the overall listening level [for other tracks/clips as well] is too low check the level in the Master output channel in Ableton -- at the loudest parts of the song that meter should max out close to but not above 0 [around the -6 mark below 0 would be good]. If the level there is too low, don't change the Master channel level [leave it at 0, which is called Unity Gain], increase levels on the individual tracks until the overall level is good. If the listening level is still too low then you'd need to turn the listening level up with the master volume knob on the interface.

Yes, that was the problem, level in the master :). Thanks!!!! By the gain button I meant: If I click with my mouse on a block recorded audio, there comes a audio pop up menu at the bottom of the screen. In this menu there are a lot of buttons, so also the gain (above the pitch). If I move the slider the sound becomes louder and the audio wave in the graphic enlarges. If the gain is too high, the audio gets distorted, same as recording in a too high input level. What is the function of the gain button in Ableton? To lower a recording what was to loud in the input? And to level up if the recording input was too low? Or has It another function? Thanks.

What you're describing sounds like Clip Gain -- an individual volume adjustment for each Clip. Clip Gain affects the volume of just that Clip, and it changes the level before the Clip's audio goes through all the effects in the channel strip. So yes, you can use it adjust the original recorded volume of the Clip [raising or lowering it], but keep in mind that if a recording is too loud and distorted, reducing Clip Gain after the fact will not fix that, it'll just make the distorted recording lower in level.