Every time I am recording on Audacity, all I see is a flatline indicating that Audacity is not picking up my microphone. However, on an OBS recording, my microphone works and I can hear myself showing that my microphone is working and I’ve configured it properly on my PC. I’ve looked up tutorials and videos for a while now trying to find a solution to this strange issue and nothing has come up yet. Any suggestions?
all I see is a flatline indicating that Audacity is not picking up my microphone.
That may not be what flat line means. The Audacity blue waves only show the loudest 30dB. Everything quieter than that will look flat even though there is still sound there.
What’s the microphone? Do you get a bouncing sound meter in Windows settings for that microphone? The sound has to go through Windows first before Audacity gets it.
What does the window next to the Audacity microphone say?
Audacity and your microphone can miss each other if you get the Stereo/Mono setting wrong.
Koz
Thank you so much for the great advice.
To answer your first question, the microphone I have is one of those headphones with a microphone integrated into it (a headphone-microphone combo pretty much). I only have to plug it in to the audio jack at the front of my PC in order to get working audio. I thought this might’ve been the issue, but even when I plugged in a microphone to the pink audio jack, I was still getting the same issue with Audacity.
Also, my microphone is being picked up by my Windows settings (Right-click volume option on taskbar>Sounds>Recording). I can hear the bar go up in those settings when I talk.
The window next to the Audacity microphone said 2 (Stereo) Recording Channel. I switched it to 1 (Mono) yet the problem still persisted. However, I found something interesting. Now when I hit record, all I hear is a static noise coming from my microphone and during the recording, the microphone level remained at a constant level with still the flat line of course. Let me reiterate that Windows picks up my microphone and me talking perfectly along with OBS.
That is good. Also, be sure to plug-in your headphone/microphone before starting up Audacity. Otherwise do Transport > Rescan audio devices.
So I believe Koz was talking about the window immediately adjacent to the Audacity microphone, NOT the second window - you may be trying to record from your internal or the wrong microphone. Also, see Device Toolbar
If you are flatlining, check that the Recording Volume Slider on the Mixer Toolbar is not set at zero.
Please don’t double post. A form elf has to read your posting and OK it before it becomes visible. There are lots of people trying to sell us stuff.
Both windows are important. The larger, first window tells Audacity what to record and the second window whether to record in mono (one blue wave) or stereo (two blue waves). If either one is wrong, Audacity may not connect.
You have a headset. A matching set of headphones and microphone.
Koz
[superfluous quoting deleted by moderator]
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