I have just installed Audacity 2.4.2 on my new MacBook macOS Big Sur v. 11.0 and no longer have the option of stereo (2) recording on the drop down bar - just the 1 mono option. This means I can’t record two tracks and then work on them separately. Any suggestions most welcome… Thanks
What is your recording device?
So, as steve indicated, the number of channels you can record depends on the device you are recording from. A microphone normally will only produce one channel (mono). (Then again, I am a Windows guy and there may be another trick on MacOS).
If you need two tracks from a mono source, after recording, you can select the track, then Edit>Duplicate, or Ctrl-D (on WIndows), for short. To make stereo, click the drop-down on the top Track Control Panel, then select Make Stereo Track.
I hope this helps. 