Hello. I’m new to the forum, so I wasn’t sure where to post this, but I thought that “recording techniques” would be a safe bet.
My friend and I want to record our podcast on my computer using audacity, while also each using our own microphone. I have a USB headset and his uses the regular microphone jack on my computer, so there aren’t any issues there, I just need to know how to set audacity to record both microphone inputs.
Any help appreciated
Audacity will only record (capture) from one “device.” The sound card counts as one device, so if you plugged your microphone into the Mic-In and plugged the theatrical microphone into an external microphone amplifier and then on to the Line-In of the sound card, you can record a mix of them by manipulating the Windows Sound Panel (I’m assuming Windows). Typically, if you have a laptop, you only have one input and that’s Microphone only, so you can’t do that.
USB counts as one different device.
So right away, it’s good to know if you have Windows and a laptop, but almost every time somebody asks this, we recommend a simple two or three channel microphone mixer outside the computer and then feed the mix into the computer. This also frequently has the advantage of a place to put your headphones to keep track of the mix. trying to do everything inside the computer frequently leads to stops and starts as you figure out how to make one microphone louder during the show or make any other relatively simple change.
It’s possible, under certain circumstances, to force a Windows machine to send “What You Hear” or “Mix Out” to Audacity and get both microphones that way. That sometimes kills the headphone monitoring because you can’t get both sound levels right at the same time. I can’t stress enough the importance of listening to the show as you create it. You can get rid of a lot of problems in real time that way.
Koz
Koz,
can you recommend some makes/models for a “simple two or three channel microphone mixer outside the computer”? Thanks!