Issues with Audacity Not Recognizing a USB Mic

Home Recording Issues: One of our members just wrote in with the following question:

I am trying to use a logitech headset/mic for my input device on Audacity. When I plug it into the usb port, the light on the mic comes on but when I look at preferences the mic doesn’t showup as an option. The logitech site says that os comes with the drivers needed to make this happen. My os says its up to date. I running on a macbook wth os. Have you ever encountered an issue with Audacity not recognizing your input device?
Thanks.

Our Answer:

Unfortunately there are going to be any number of hardware and software combinations out there that we have not personally encountered.  Here is how we answered the question for the member:

It seems like every system has its own quirks when it comes to the combination of OS, hardware, drivers and software. I’m afraid I have not run into that particular problem.

But this should work. Go to the System Preferences and select Sound. Inside Sound, you should see your mic listed. Just select that mic, making it the primary recording device for the computer. then it will show up in Audacity.

Failing that, I would check out the Audacity forums. There are LOTS more folks there who have experience with Audacity and macs.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Ken

If anyone out there can answer this question more specifically, please feel free to post a comment at the end of this post!

Cheers,

Ken

14 comments on “Issues with Audacity Not Recognizing a USB Mic”

  1. Yah I have the same problem. If someone knows more please leave a comment. I am going to try GarageBand now and see what happend.

  2. Worked for me with one exception. I wasn’t able to get Windows to pick up the USB mic as the default but I was able to “configure” the device. I had Audacity open at the time so it appeared to make no change. After closing Audacity it recognized the USB mic. Thanks, OP and Home Brew Audio. My USB mic records like a champ now.

    Good recordings to you,

    Daniel

    1. What operating system are you using? For Windows 7, first check to see if Windows is recognizing it by going to Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, click Hardware and Sound, then see the Sound category. Click the last link on the right that says Manage Audio Devices. You should see your USB mic there. If you don’t, then you found your reason. You need to install the mic on your system. Usually you don’t have to do this, but your mic may have special drivers. BTW, if you can get something like a Samson C01U for only $49, that will help a LOT. Those headphone USB mics don’t give great results in my opinion. Hope that helps.

  3. I’ve had the same problem and did what Daniel suggested. I closed and then re-opened Audicity. This time it recognises the Mic and has included an input device. Hurrah!!!

  4. Thanks for this – i did as you suggested and went to the windows control panel, and then selected the usb mic as the default recording device.

    Closed audacity and restarted, and voila!!

    Thanks!

  5. What worked for me is, if Audacity is already open when I plug in my mic, it won’t detect it.
    However, if my mic is plugged in when I launch Audacity, it detects it and shows it as an option.

  6. Whenever I go to device manager, it reads that my keyboard is connected, but the sound as far as microphone options does not. I have tried uninstalling and restarting, but so far nothing is working. Is there a way to fix a microphone just not registering as attached even when the keyboard itself is shown as being connected to the computer?

    1. Try going to Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Sound>Manage Audio Devices. Do you see your mic in there?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *