Distorted sound on Dell notebooks
I use a Dell notebook and I have the problem that the sound is distorted when recording audio. This also happens with USB audio devices. What can I do?
I use a Dell notebook and I have the problem that the sound is distorted when recording audio. This happens not only with the internal microphone, but also with USB audio devices.
Dell installs the audio software Waves Maxx Audio on many computers, which includes an equalizer and surround effects. The software is part of the driver package and cannot be easily switched off or uninstalled separately. It also changes the frequency response of external USB microphones or audio interfaces. This is a problem for professional audio productions.
As a workaround, you can disable the automatic launch of the Waves MaxxAudio Service Application so that the software no longer intervenes. The easiest way to do this is to open the Start menu under Windows 10 and 11 with the Windows key and search for “Start Apps” and open this item in the system settings. Here you can switch off the autostart of the app. After a restart, Waves Maxx Audio should no longer be active, allowing you to record audio without distortion. There is one downside though: the 3.5mm jack for headsets no longer works, so this workaround only works for USB audio devices.
