Hello!
I have purchased both RODE NT1 and Steinberg UR22C a few days ago. I only had experience with my AT2020usbi microphone prior to getting these two, so I have little to no experience with audio interfaces and XLR microphones.
NT1 and UR22C arrived well-packaged but very cold to the touch and due to that I was worried about condensation, so I kept them in their boxes with the lids open in a relatively dry environment for approx. 24 hours before using them.
After said 24 hours, I researched well to connect everything in the right order, all the necessary drivers installed, etc. One thing that was unsuccessful is making the UR22C perform at it’s “superspeed” a.k.a. USB3.1 mode since it for some reason thinks my USB3 is actually a USB2 port. This should not affect gain levels though, so I believe it is of no concern for this topic (if it is, please let me know!).
Once everything was connected, I attempted to speak about 3.5 inches or 9 cm away directly to the microphone at about a normal conversational volume. With the gain of the mic input on the UR22C set to the minimum, I am hitting about -55dB; mic gain set to 50% it is about -35dB; mic gain at 80% is about -18dB. So, for me, this sounds too quiet. I think I should be hitting -18dB with the gain cranked on somewhere around 55%. I tried researching other posts on multiple forums but there was never a reasonable conclusion to any of those posts (the variables with different audio interfaces only muddied the waters).
My question - is the RODE NT1 working at the expected volume? Is there a way to calculate what the volume should be based on the specifications of both products? Perhaps you own the NT1 and could tell me what gain you set it to with what output dB you are getting while speaking into it?
If it would help, I can give audio examples of various gain levels used with my voice, let me know! Any input is greatly appreciated, thank you in advance!