I’m testing Audacity 4.0.0 on a Mac mini M4 with a RØDECaster Duo and RØDE PodMic. I’ve used Audacity for many years to produce a weekly podcast, and Punch and Roll is an important part of my recording workflow.
I’m having a problem with the new Lead-in Recording behavior in Audacity 4.
Here is a simple example:
- I record a spoken phrase normally.
- I stop recording.
- I place the cursor earlier in the recording, before the part I want to replace.
4, I use Lead-in Recording (Shift+D). - Audacity plays the existing recording as the lead-in, just as I expect.
- When it reaches the punch point, Audacity begins recording the new take — but the existing audio after that point continues playing in my headphones while I am recording.
The old audio is not being recorded into the new take. The problem is that I can hear the old performance while I am trying to speak the replacement. For spoken-word recording, that makes it extremely difficult to use.
I initially suspected a routing problem with the RØDECaster Duo. The Duo was originally using Main Mix for USB 1, and that did cause the computer playback to be returned to Audacity. I changed USB 1 to Mix Minus, which solved that problem completely. Audacity playback still reaches my headphones, but the USB return is no longer sent back into the recording.
I also tested using AirPods Max as the Audacity playback device while continuing to record through the RØDECaster Duo. That also eliminated the USB return from the recording, but the same basic Lead-in behavior remained: once the new recording began, Audacity continued playing the old material I was trying to replace.
And no, I’m not suggesting AirPods Max as a recording solution. With input monitoring turned on, the Bluetooth latency was roughly equivalent to yelling from the top of a mountain and waiting for the echo to come back. 
But as a test, it was useful because it completely separated Audacity’s playback path from the RØDECaster recording path.
So I believe I have separated the hardware loopback issue from the Lead-in Recording issue.
My setup:
- Mac mini M4
- macOS 26.6.2
- Audacity 4.0.0.262451609
- RØDECaster Duo, firmware 1.7.3
- RØDE PodMic
- USB 1 routing set to Mix Minus
- Audacity Audible Input Monitoring OFF
In Audacity 3, I used Punch and Roll constantly. Since that method was destructive, the material after the punch point was removed/replaced, so there was no old performance continuing to play while I recorded the correction.
I understand that Audacity 4 Lead-in Recording is now non-destructive, and I like the idea of keeping the original material. But I would expect playback of the original clip to stop when the lead-in reaches the punch point and the new recording begins.
Is there a setting I am missing that stops playback of the existing audio once Lead-in Recording actually begins recording?
If there isn’t, is the existing audio continuing to play during the replacement recording the intended behavior of Lead-in Recording in Audacity 4?
For someone doing spoken-word recording and using this as a replacement for the old Punch and Roll workflow, being able to hear the old take while trying to speak the new take makes the feature very difficult to use.
I am loving Audacity 4.0 so far. Huge upgrade.
Regards,
Ron