Question / Help Trouble setting audio level

[BeachBum1085]

Using OBS 23 with USB audio capture. Recordings come out with audio less than 50% even though the OBS volume meter shows mostly yellow peaks. I tried increasing the mixer output but that overloaded the USB device and caused over-modulation. Raising the volume on OBS so the meter was mostly in the red still only produced 70% volume on the MP4 recording

What controls the recording level for the MP4 file (and I assume the live stream level too)?
My video software allows me to raise the gain up to 500% but I would rather have normal audio level direct to the recordings.

 

[Narcogen]

Add a Gain filter to your audio source.

https://obsproject.com/wiki/Filters-Guide#gain

 

[BeachBum1085]

Not sure how this would help. The OBS meters are bouncing into the yellow, sometimes into the red. But the recorded video is less than half scale in my video editor. I'm recording to .flv then remux to .mp4. If I push the OBS gain so that it is mostly red, then the audio is still half but badly overmodulated.