Snoball USB microphone, cant record in stereo

[amytee]

under preferences, I do not have the option to record in stereo with a usb mic. The older audacity gave me that option. any resolve for this?

[steve]

Is it a stereo microphone?

[amytee]

It's a cardioid/omni condensor mic...I have been able to record it stereo with other programs. Does that help?

[steve]

.I have been able to record it stereo with other programs.

Either you've been defying the laws of physics, or you've been recording mono
I think what you mean is that you have been recording "2 channel mono" - that is, a left and a right channel (like stereo) but both channels are identical.

Whether or not Audacity records a mono track split equally across both tracks of a stereo pair, or whether it records the signal on one channel and silence on the other, depends on how the Windows sound card drivers handle the audio - there's no user setting for it and no way you can change what happens in Audacity. However, since you are recording a mono source (one microphone), there is not really much point having it on a stereo track - all it does is use twice as much disk space. If you set Audacity Preferences to record "1 channel (mono)" the recording will play through both left and right speakers.

Mono tracks may be "panned" left/right if you want the sound to come from one side or the other (as can stereo tracks), but by default the sound will come out equally from both speakers/headphones.

[amytee]

thank you for clearing that up for me.....I'm am a bit naive when it comes to audio!!!

[kozikowski]

Snowball.

Terrific microphone. We have two. It's mono and takes 44100, 16-bit, Mono for a setup. Especially in Audacity 1.3, it's easy to make stereo. As pointed out, the result is really two-track mono, but it will integrate into a stereo show just fine after you convert.

What it will not do is produce a stereo effect; violins on the left and French Horns on the right.

Koz