I can't record voice along with track using built-in mic

carlab · Post by **carlab** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:06 am

I am trying to record myself on Audacity (2.0.6) on my Macbook Pro (10.10.4) while playing a track. The track plays fine, but the voice isn't recognized. I'm not using an external mic.
I went to Sounds and ensured the Built-in Mic feature is active, as well as on the Audacity screen, but no success. What am I doing wrong?

I've attached a screenshot.

Post by **kozikowski** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:28 am

Macs have no natural ability to record themselves. There is no "Stereo Mix" like there is on Windows machines. So any Mac can record your voice by selecting "Built-In Microphone," I'd be surprised if you got the music to record at all, and even more surprised if you got both at once.

I don't think this is supported any more, but you can install a program called SoundFlower to make part of this work. SoundFlower can catch the music playback on the way out to speakers or headphones and make it available to Audacity for recording. That's how I record the occasional internet sound clip.

Then, you can possibly use Utilities > Audio MIDI > Aggregate Device to record both SoundFlower and the built-in microphone. I've never done that, but I think it does work.

Someone will correct me.

Koz

Post by **Gale Andrews** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:48 am

Unless the built-in mic on the Mac Book Pro is locked out when there is playback, why wouldn't the built-in mic record the voice (or record playback and voice if the user was not wearing headphones)?
However for that reason you should wear headphones.

Try a simple voice recording with no other tracks present. If you only record a flat line, you could restart Audacity, or you could charge the battery, in case the mic gets disabled on low power.

I don't see any other clues from the attached picture. Sometimes, it can help to open /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup and make sure the channels and sample rate of the input device matches with Audacity (so in your case set 44100.0 Hz, 2-ch in Audio MIDI Setup).

There are quite a few reports online about the internal mic on Mac Book Pro only working while Dictation and Speech is open, or requiring to reboot the Mac. The problem may lie with Mac.

@Koz: the older Soundflower 1.6x still works on Yosemite. But I don't see why you would want the mic to record the playback of the Audacity track - you have a clean copy of that in Audacity.

Gale

Post by **kozikowski** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:14 am

while playing a track.

Oh. While playing it in Audacity. That's just over dubbing. I always assume the worst possible conditions:

I'm playing music in iTunes.....
I'm playing music on-line.....

There are quite a few reports online about the internal mic on Mac Book Pro only working while Dictation and Speech is open, or requiring to reboot the Mac. The problem may lie with Mac.

OK, that's frightening. Even if you enter Chat or Skype?

Koz

cyrano · Post by **cyrano** » Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:26 pm

Could you please tell us WHICH Mac precisely we are talking about?

Did you ever install any special audio software, such as JackOSX, Soundflower, system-wide eq's, Skype, mixers such as Mixxx...?

You're using OSX 10.10.4. That's not the latest version. I don't think installing 10.10.5 would change anything, but...

Also, Audacity 2.0.6 isn't the latest version either.

Could you try the mic in another program? Just to see if it works.

I've seen defective internal mics before, but these don't show up at all.

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I can't record voice along with track using built-in mic

I can't record voice along with track using built-in mic

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