I have a new Windows 11 laptop which I bought specifically for music creation. When I open Audacity it does not detect any sound from a USB mic. I know that the mic/equipment are working because the laptop detects it and I have also gone back to my old laptop and it still works on Audacity there. I also know the USB port is fine as I can record on Audacity with the USB line in CODEC but whatever I do I cannot get any signal in Audacity from the USB mic on the new device. I have reinstalled Audacity a number of times and that has not helped. I am completely mystified. Any ideas?
I forgot to say that Audacity does recognise that the USB mic is connected. It just doesn’t detect any sound.
Already done. All the permissions are correct. The USB mic shows up in the Audio Settings of Audacity but it just doesn’t detect any sound. The trouble is I cannot work out whether this is an Audacity problem or a PC problem. It is very specific and limited just to this input on this software. Everything works fine with the same settings on my older laptop (except that the laptop itself is not powerful enough to run Audacity for multitrack music creation without stuttering). It is very strange.
I seem to have fixed it. I don’t quite know how I fixed it. I went into the Windows sound settings and switched a few things on and off. I don’t ultimately think I changed anything but something must have worked thank goodness.
Check Windows Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and make sure microphone access is enabled. Then select the USB mic directly under Audacity’s recording device settings and restart Audacity after reconnecting it.