Audacity input level fixed 100%

[Frank Vanoni]

On Thu, 2023-08-17 at 12:57 +0200, Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users wrote:

> this is very tricky for averaged users used to desktop sound
> environments such as pulseaudio. 

Dear Ralf
First of all, thank you for the precise and comprehensive explanation. 
>From an audio engineer's point of view, it all makes sense.
What I don't understand is why there is a slider in Audacity that
remains disabled and non-functional. Therefore, it could also be
omitted.
For "serious" recordings the solution of an external mixer is certainly
valid, but it is a complication for a short "quick and dirty"
recording, with no pretensions to perfection. In this specific case, I
would like to record a short spoken text, but with the input at 100% a
clear background noise is heard. If I get closer to the microphone, the
speech is distorted. The idea is to lower the input level to drown out
background noise and talk closer to the mic. The result is acceptable
when monitored, but as soon as I start Audacity I get the mentioned
error 9985. If I close Pavucontrol, Audacity resets the input level to
100%. Very irritating when a few minute job becomes a complication of a
simple affair. :-)

The microphone is a simple cheap "headset", connected to the MIC input
of the sound card integrated in the motherboard.

Thanks for the suggestion from Tenacity Audio, which I will try.