Audacity will not export when I am using my shure sm57 mic. It won’t even export right if it’s only plugged and using a different mic. If I remove my mic and use my built in one the exports sound fine. When I export using my shure mic all it is is silence. Why is it doing this? How can I fix it?
The SM57 is not a “computer mic”. Its the wrong interface for a regular consumer soundcard. The SM57 has a low-impedance balanced (3-wire) XLR connection. The mic input on a consumer soundcard is high impedance unbalanced (2-wire).
If you want to use any good studio/stage microphone you need a [u]USB audio interface[/u] with the proper XLR mic input.
The [u]Blue Icicle[/u] is a low cost solution if you only need one mic input and if you don’t need any other features like zero-latency monitoring, etc.
Or, with a dynamic mic that doesn’t need phantom power (like the SM57) you can try a [u]Microphone Transformer[/u] to match the impedance and convert from balanced to unbalanced. (You’d need also another adapter to go from 1/4-inch to 3.5mm.) With a transformer you are still using the preamp built into your computer, which is generally low quality and might be noisy.