When I click record, nothing is recorded. My audio setup is as follows:
Host - core audio
Playback device - MacBook Air speakers (I don’t have headphones yet)
Recording device - Scarlett solo 4th gen
Recording channels - 1 (mono) recording channel
When I click the red record button, the line stays flat even though my mic is on and connected. This mic works on zoom and on davinci resolve. Please help!
I’m using audacity 3.6.1 and have macOS Sonoma 14.1.2
Unplug the Solo and restart Audacity. Try to record from the Air built-in microphone.
Koz
What’s the mic? Having it work in Zoom almost doesn’t count since Zoom will make a good conversation from trash.
Does the flashing volume halo around the knob work when you’re speaking? It’s not the worst idea to have wired headphones for audio production work. In this case, I would be asking you to plug into the Solo and listen to yourself.
That may need an adapter. My Sennheisers have a 1/8" stereo connector and I think the Solo socket is 1/4" Stereo.
Koz
A word on headphones. Do Not use Wireless or Bluetooth headphones. I mean you can do that, too, for other jobs, but not for sound production.
There are a lot of tricks and jobs that wireless can’t do and this is one of them. You can’t listen to the Solo on Bluetooth.
I’m pretty sure you can’t do musical overdubbing on Wireless, either.
Koz
Audacity does work using just my Mac’s built in microphone. I have the rode nt1 and the volume halo does work when I’m speaking into the mic, I bought an adapter so I will be able to connect my wired headphones into the audio interface soon
So there’s nothing wrong but it doesn’t work.
There are some instances where security settings and processes will prevent a sound recording, but I didn’t think Mac had those. Plus, I think it warns you.
Ummm. It’s too late to add Starbucks.
Let’s try the Great Overload Test. The timeline doesn’t measure everything. It may say 0 to 1.0 (100%), but really, it’s only measuring the loudest about 25dB of the 96dB performance.
Also the bouncing sound meter doesn’t measure everything, either. The default only goes down to -60dB (on the left) That’s really quiet, but is not dead zero.
So lets try this. Never, Ever blow into a microphone, but you can talk or yell as loud as you like. Talk louder and turn the Solo volume control up until the whole flashing halo lights up. It may turn red or pink. That’s the idea.
Try to record in Audacity. Anything?
Koz
Other notes on Headphones.
There is a Hollywood Standard Wired Headphone. It’s the Sony MDR-7506. It appears on every sound shoot. There is a very similar product from Behringer called the HPS-3000. They have a very odd claim to fame. They will show the Sound Person errors before anybody else hears them.
I can’t stand to wear them for an extended time. I tried. I borrowed a set from one of the production companies. They are not “settle down to a movie” headphones.
Another error turned up on Maui. I was shopping for headphones at a music store and bought modest headphones that I then used to mix a music composition for the beach. I still have that mix. They had some tonal problems that I accidentally burned into the music. I can’t believe I still have them in the back of the closet. Sony MDR-V150
My Every Day headphones are Sennheiser eH-150. They have large, fluffy ear pads suitable for listening to yourself while speaking without feedback. Real Time performance monitoring is recommended for good quality control.
I just bought a replacement set of pads. There are other Sennheisers promoted on the forum, but they might not have the large ear pads.
The eH-150’s are insanely comfortable to listen to and the only “problem” is a modest bass boost. You can and I have listened to movies in them.
I have two. When we were moving studios, one of the editors broke his and he trashed them. I fished them out during the move and repaired them. They are my rescue puppies with the left cord shorter than the right.
You may not be able to buy them any more.
Koz
Unfortunately still nothing 
. Volume control is all the way up, turning red, but the line is still flat.
OK. There’s an odd duck. Audacity automatically assumes that “mono” is going to show up as input one on the SOLO. It’s not. The XLR is input two.
Post back if this works.
Koz
You could have a problem with this solution because of the summation of Solo tracks one and two. You will get the electronic noise from both tracks. If this is a problem for you, tell Audacity to record in stereo, split stereo to mono, and delete track one.
Another possible problem is some software reduces the volume of each track when they’re summed. This puts your Audacity overload and clipping point at -6dB, not 0dB. Again, the solution is record in stereo, split to mono, and delete track 1.
Koz
Does Audacity have permission to use the “microphone”?
I wondered if Macs did that. Mine has security settings but it’s too old to take it down to individual microphones.
So now we have two possibilities. Do post back when you figure out what happened.
Koz
This fix worked! I can now record in audacity using my microphone. Thank you for your help!
Which this?
Koz
Combining input 1 and 2 using focusrite control.
Writing that down.
Remember my notes about that. If it’s noisier than you think it should be, shift to stereo. Also make sure you have full range of loudness.
Koz
Yes definitely, thank you so much for all your advice.
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
