Hi, I am on Windows10 using audacity 2.3.2 and I am having an issue with my microphone connecting to audacity. I recently gained the microphone after a friend gave it to me, and I for sure know it works and it isn’t broken. It is a neewer nw-800. I plugged it into my microphone slot on my pc and whenever I hit record, it provides no sound. I go through literally all of the options for microphone and none of them work. Some even present me with this weird red pin and arrow and it just scrolls along as if it was recording, but not actually recording anything, like not even just a flat audio line, but literally just not recording anything. I tried plugging it into specifically my headset port and it records VERY faintly and I cant hear any sound at all till I unplug it. I really want to use this mic, so does anyone have any solutions or potential fixes?
It is a neewer nw-800.
Do you have the special power supply and adapter cables? Do you have the user manual?
What computer do you have? (Does it have separate mic & headphone jacks or a combo jack?)
Stage & studio microphones (balanced 3-wire connection with an XLR connector) are not compatible* with the microphone input (unbalanced 2-wire) on a laptop or regular soundcard.
Also, studio condensers** require 48V phantom power which is normally supplied by the [u]audio interface[/u], preamp, or mixer.
And, if you have a laptop, there are two kinds of 3.5mm audio connectors, separate microphone & headphone jacks and combo jacks and the mic connections are not compatible. (Regular headphones will work with either one.)
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- Dynamic microphones (like the famous Shure SM57/58) don’t require power so they can work with a regular soundcard/laptop
if you have the “right” adapter, or a better-yet a [u]transformer[/u] and adapter cables, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
** What you have is NOT a true [u]studio condenser microphone[/u] (I can tell from the price). You have an electret condenser, which is internally similar to a regular computer microphone but it’s got different circuitry to make with work as a studio microphone with a balanced connection and 48V power.
P.S.
What are you doing? i.e. If you are making an audiobook for publication, trying to record high-quality music, or anything “serious”, you may need a different setup, and we can make some suggestions.