[PLUG] Tuning audio system

[Rich Shepard]

Using the Audio-Technica AT2005USB microphone when recording a video (with
vokoscreenNG-3.0) the output sound is very low; I need to crank the speaker
volume to almost the maximum to hear it clearly. This should not be the case
so I started learning more about linux ALSA and Pulse.

Using pavucontrol I have the AT2005USB input volume set to the maximum:
153%.

aplay-l tells me I have two audio sources; device 0 I assume is the
video card (because is supports HDMI) and device 1 is the motherboard (Generic [HD-Audio
Generic]). There's also card 2, but that's the microphone and I wouldn't
expect it to be used for output.

Currently, ~/.asoundrc defaults to card 0:

pcm.cs46xx {
type hw
card 0
}

ctl.cs46xx {
type hw
card 0
}

which is what I assume is correct.

I've read a couple of blog pages on this issue and haven't seen a solution
to increase the recording volume:

https://opensource.com/article/17/1/linux-plays-sound
http://slackermedia.info/handbook/doku.php?id=linuxaudio

I also found Alien BOB's 2014 article on using JACK on Slackware. While this
desktop is not an exclusive DAW I'm wondering if I should remove pulse and
install and configure jack.

On occasion I watch a YouTube or news site video and I play .mp3 music
ripped from my audio CD collection. That's my major use of the ALSA system
and pulse does well for these. But now I want to record videos and need to
have the microphone output captured at a higher volume than it is currently.
I don't know what systems viewers of the videos will be using so I'd like to
have sufficient audio volume that they can easily control the listening
level.

I understand that jack can be difficult to set up but it might be the
solution I need.

Your thoughts? (Prayers not needed.)

Rich