I hope you guys can provide some help for a technological novice.
I am setting up a home studio to record audio books and more. I have a mic running through a mixer to power the mic. The mixer is running through the Lexicon Alpha sound card. The sound card is plugged into the USB port of my Mac OS X 10.9.5. I am recording with Audacity. My input choices in Audacity are the built-in mic and the external mic (it says Lexicon Alpha, but I assume that is because the Lexicon Alpha is plugged into the USB port of the Mac). The internal mic works. The external mic flatlines when I record. Can someone help me to see what I am missing? Thanks.
I have a mic running through a mixer to power the mic.
It is extraordinarily important not to keep secrets.
I have a Shure model 4 XLR microphone connected to a Peavey PV6 mixer which is supplying 48volt phantom power. The lights on the mixer flash when I talk.
The [Lexicon] sound card is plugged into the USB port of my Mac OS X 10.9.5.
Close Audacity.
Can you hear your voice when you plug your headphones into the mixer? Can you hear your voice when you plug the headphones into the Lexicon?
If you get it that far, Apple (upper left) > System Preferences > Sound > Input. Select the Lexicon. You should get the bouncing blue ball sound meter if everything is working.
I’m betting you don’t get this far, but if you do, then start Audacity and select the Lexicon with the device toolbar.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/device_toolbar.html
If a USB soundcard goes missing in Audacity, either restart Audacity or Transport > Rescan…
Let us know.
Koz
If the system Sound Preferences don’t help, try making the Lexicon default input in /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.
And be aware that it is extremely good practice to set sample rates of external devices to the same rate you have in project rate bottom left of Audacity. You must use Audio MIDI Setup to set sample rates. You may get buzzing/crackling/speed issues if you do not match sample rates.
Gale