Distorted mic volume at 0 db input gain

[TJ Preach]

I recently got back into recording on cakewalk by bandlab. Recorded last week no problem. Now all of a sudden my mic is clipping although my gain dial is all the way down. I messed with the control panel trying to use my microphone to record on bandicam, but i reset to default. Not sure what's going on.

[David Baay]

Track Gain only affects input to the track from recorded/imported audio clips. Live input level has be set at the interface, either by a hardware control or a software mixer/console app that comes with it.

Edited April 28, 2021 by David Baay

[John Vere]

To elaborate on what Dave has said the track meters will tell you what your recording level is. If your interface has meters as well, those in theory, should match what Cakewalk meters are showing 

[John]

You also have boost 11 inserted. I would avoid that plugin if at all possible.  0 dB is at the point where digital audio will clip.  0 dB does not mean zero volume.  It means the volume is at full scale and can not go any higher.  Try recording at -12 dB or -18 dB if you are recording at 24 bits.  

[slartabartfast]

To elaborate on what John said, Cakewalk only deals with digital audio (numbers). Until the captured audio is converted into numbers by the audio to digital converter in your interface Cakewalk is powerless to make any adjustment. If the signal being fed to those converters is causing clipping, then the clipping will carry over into Cakewalk and there is no way to reverse it, since everything above 0dB is undefined i. e. there is no information to recover. So you need to look at the way the signal from your microphone is being moderated (amplified or attenuated) prior to reaching the AD converters. If there is a gain adjustment in your microphone, pre-amp, mixer etc. that is where you will need to make adjustments.