Catalina microphone issue with Audacity

[Wondercat]

Chris I LOVE YOU! A virtual, socially-distant hug and high five - you saved me my sanity this morning!

[Quitterieh]

Hi,
I have Mac OS catalina. I tried your methods several times and it doesn't work with an external Mic. It works only with your "built in microphone".
Basically when I select "USB audio codec" and I try recording something I have a flat line.
I tried both methods: Going with the terminal and going to your "application - show package content - Contents - mac os..." and it doesn't work with "USB audio codec". Would you have a third solution? I need to record something professionally with my external mic and I am stuck. Thank you!

[Beaux]

I've tried following your instructions but when I click on Audacity Launcher in Applications, it simply opens up the box that I created and saved. It doesn't open Audacity itself.
One thing: in your instructions, you say that in the window titled "Run Shell Script," for "Shell" we should select "/bin/bask." My window has a "/bin/bash" option but not "/bin/bask." Was your instruction a typo, or is that why I'm not able to launch Audacity when I open Audacity Launcher from Finder?

[bmengotto]

Worked for me and thank you! That was driving me nuts. Upgraded from Mojave to Catalina and this was exactly the issue. Terminal command started Audacity and I got the permissions prompt. After that, microphone works again like it did in Mojave.

[Sokobania]

I just upgraded from Audacity 2.3.3 to Audacity 2.4.2 and it solved the Catalina issue with the internal microphone (or soundflower).

[steve]

I just upgraded from Audacity 2.3.3 to Audacity 2.4.2 and it solved the Catalina issue with the internal microphone (or soundflower).

Thanks for the feedback.

[marinsberg]

I made the mistake of "not allowing" the prompt for allowing the recording and not it does not show up again. How do I get that to reappear?

[steve]

I made the mistake of "not allowing" the prompt for allowing the recording and not it does not show up again. How do I get that to reappear?

I think you should be able to enable it in Preferences.

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click Privacy.
2. Select Microphone.
3. Select the tickbox next to Audacity to allow it to access the microphone.

[andrejfavia]

So I got soft playthrough via Terminal trick on macOS Catalina GM, but my playthrough via iMic USB (with USB-C to USB adapter) has uneven audio. When left in is 0 dB, right in is -24 dB. This was not a problem for me before. Is this another one of those "We don't want you to record our stuff so we're gonna frustrate your efforts by screwing around with your audio settings" things that I am somehow supposed to fix?

I also tried recording audio via Quicktime Player, same thing, left is clear, but right is faint.

Greetings all.

I have not yet received an explanation as to why my Right audio is still coming in much quieter than my Left audio when I record via iMic system.

See attached screenshot. I have Audacity 2.4.2 on Big Sur and the same problem exists.

[steve]

I have not yet received an explanation as to why my Right audio is still coming in much quieter than my Left audio when I record via iMic system.

This is one of the reasons why we much prefer each new question in a new topic. If you post in an existing topic, it either detracts attention away from the original poster's issue, or your question gets missed, or it creates a confusing mix of answers to multiple questions.

I also tried recording audio via Quicktime Player, same thing, left is clear, but right is faint.

So that indicates that it is not an "Audacity" issue, but rather an issue with the sound system.

iMic USB (with USB-C to USB adapter)

What is plugged into the iMic? What are you trying to record?