**SOLVED** Blue Yeti - Not Recording Both Channels

[jademan]

Now you see where my confusion is. I have tried multiple cables, two different mics, and two different computers. And I have heard no one having this trouble.

I have. You are not the only one. For additional thoughts, check out the following links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comment ... t_channel/
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-make-the ... -a-MacBook
https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comment ... e_channel/

Also, check your project rate. It seems that the Blue Yeti can operate at only 48000. So check your Windows and Audacity settings.

What does Blue Yeti have to say?

I hope this helps.

[SmashterLink]

So. Update. I finally had a day off to mess with this some more. So, I was able to test all this stuff on my desk top computer that was built from the ground up. It was gifted to me, so I'm not sure on exact specs. However, I did a test recording in Audacity, and I am able to hear sound on the left and right, as it should be. When monitoring my levels in audacity, you can see it picking up sound more depending on what side of the mic you are on. . This is what I'm trying to achieve on my wife's new laptop. When monitoring in Audacity on the laptop, the bars are moving together on the left and right. I am not really super computer savvy, so I'm wondering. Could this be something to do with the internals of the computer itself? The laptop and the desk top have the exact same settings in the audio control panel and audacity. I have to get this working on the computer!

[SmashterLink]

Also, here's some shots of the two different computers I have. Forst one is the laptop, where it won't record in stereo. Second is the desktop that is recording sounds on the left and right correctly.

[steve]

Please post the "Audio Device Info" for both machines.
(See: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/hel ... stics.html)
Differences between the two may give us some clue as to what the problem is.

[SmashterLink]

Attached are the two device info sheets from my desktop and laptop. I must admit, this is over my head. So I'm not sure what I'm looking at. But again, the desktop records both left and right channels independently and correctly. The laptop records only the left channel on both channels.

[kozikowski]

One of those other postings insists there's no such thing as a stereo microphone. That's when I stopped reading.

What else do you have running? Games, Chat, Skype, Zoom? I'll bet serious chocolate Zoom will not allow the system to process voice in stereo.

Save your work, close all the apps and programs and Shift+Shutdown. Wait for it to completely finish, and Start. Not regular Shutdown and not Restart.

Start the machine and do not let anything else start. Launch Audacity and see if the Yeti starts working. It's valuable if the symptoms change even if the problem doesn't go away. Keep good notes.

Koz

[steve]

One of those other postings insists there's no such thing as a stereo microphone. That's when I stopped reading.

The "Blue" website says that the Yeti is a 3 capsule mic that may be switched for cardiod, omnidirectional or stereo:
https://www.bluemic.com/en-us/products/yeti/


@SmashterLink
I assume that you are testing one Yeti mic on two computers, not two Yeti mics?
I assume that you have ruled out the possibility of there being a problem with the "multiple pattern selection switch"?


The Audio Device Info in both cases, shows that Audacity sees the microphone as a 2 channel device, and the mic is selected as the recording device.

One thing that is weird on your laptop setup is that your recording device is set to
"MME Yeti microphone"
and your playback device is set to:
"WASAPI Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)"

I'm surprised that is possible.

Try this:

1. Plug your headphones into the Yeti.
2. Connect the Yeti to the laptop
3. Launch Audacity
4. Ensure that Audacity Device Toolbar is set to:
   • host: MME
   • Recording device: Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)
   • Channels: 2 (Stereo) recording channels
   • Playback device: Speakers (Yeti Stereo Microphone)
5. Get the "Audio Device Info".
   Near the bottom of the info it should say:

   Code: Select all

   ==============================
   Selected recording device: 1 - Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microph
   Selected playback device: 5 - Speakers (Yeti Stereo Microphon
   Supported Rates:
       48000
   ==============================

6. If the Audio Device Info is as above, make a test recording.
   If you are unable to set the devices as above, describe what happens.

[kozikowski]

And just to cover it. Which Yeti? They're up to four. "Classic, Legacy" Yeti, Yeti Pro, Yeti X, and Yeti Nano.

Does yours have a volume control and pattern control on the rear? This one is shown in the Stereo position.

Screen Shot 2021-01-10 at 6.30.37 AM.png (148.72 KiB) Viewed 504 times

Koz

[kozikowski]

Does the laptop have Zoom, Skype, Chat, etc? That's important. Zoom likes to take over sound channels and not tell you.

Koz

[SmashterLink]

Ok. Gonna try and answer all these questions.

What else do you have running? Games, Chat, Skype, Zoom? I'll bet serious chocolate Zoom will not allow the system to process voice in stereo.

Save your work, close all the apps and programs and Shift+Shutdown. Wait for it to completely finish, and Start. Not regular Shutdown and not Restart.

Start the machine and do not let anything else start. Launch Audacity and see if the Yeti starts working. It's valuable if the symptoms change even if the problem doesn't go away. Keep good notes.

I have nothing else running. This computer is basically brand new, out of the box. My wife just got it on Christmas. To my knowledge, Zoom isn't even installed on here. I'll try the shutdown procedure you talked about and see what that does.

@SmashterLink
I assume that you are testing one Yeti mic on two computers, not two Yeti mics?
I assume that you have ruled out the possibility of there being a problem with the "multiple pattern selection switch"?

The Audio Device Info in both cases, shows that Audacity sees the microphone as a 2 channel device, and the mic is selected as the recording device.

One thing that is weird on your laptop setup is that your recording device is set to
"MME Yeti microphone"
and your playback device is set to:
"WASAPI Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio)"

I'm surprised that is possible.

Try this:

1. Plug your headphones into the Yeti.
2. Connect the Yeti to the laptop
3. Launch Audacity
4. Ensure that Audacity Device Toolbar is set to:
   • host: MME
   • Recording device: Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)
   • Channels: 2 (Stereo) recording channels
   • Playback device: Speakers (Yeti Stereo Microphone)
5. Get the "Audio Device Info".
   Near the bottom of the info it should say:

   Code: Select all

   ==============================
   Selected recording device: 1 - Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microph
   Selected playback device: 5 - Speakers (Yeti Stereo Microphon
   Supported Rates:
       48000
   ==============================

6. If the Audio Device Info is as above, make a test recording.
   If you are unable to set the devices as above, describe what happens.

Yes. I do have two Yeti mics, and have tested both mics on both computers. For the purposes of trying to figure out what's going on, I have been sticking to one. Audacity does recognize it as a two channel mic. But the problem is, the recording itself. I may post a sound clip of what it sounds like.
Also, my playback device is usually selected as "Speakers (Yeti Stereo Mic)". When I took the pictures and ran the device info, I just didn't have them plugged in. Like I said before, when I have the headphones plugged in, you can tell the mic is functioning correctly in the left and right because of the onboard monitoring the mic provides. There just seems to be some breakdown from mic to computer. I'll plug it all up and run the device info again, just to see.

And just to cover it. Which Yeti? They're up to four. "Classic, Legacy" Yeti, Yeti Pro, Yeti X, and Yeti Nano.

Does yours have a volume control and pattern control on the rear? This one is shown in the Stereo position.

Screen Shot 2021-01-10 at 6.30.37 AM.png

I have the basic Blue Yeti. My mic looks just like the one pictured and yes, it's in the stereo position.

Does the laptop have Zoom, Skype, Chat, etc? That's important. Zoom likes to take over sound channels and not tell you.

Again, to my knowledge, it doesn't. At least I haven't installed any of those. But I will double check.

Thanks so much again for all the digging. I really appreciate this. I also have a dialogue going with Dell to see if it's something on the computer end as well.