Can´t get started

baqarah131 · Post by **baqarah131** » August 6th, 2020, 7:07 pm

Edward Thornton <email removed to discourage spammers harvesting it>

Í´m not getting anywhere. I bought a microphone (Xiakoa), plugged it into the USB port, downloaded Audacity, and can´t make it record. I don´t even see what I´m supposed to do to record. I haven´t found any manual on how to use Audacity, Can you tell me where to look? What´s the first step?
Edward

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » August 6th, 2020, 8:04 pm

baqarah131 wrote: ↑August 6th, 2020, 7:07 pm Edward Thornton <.>

Í´m not getting anywhere. I bought a microphone (Xiakoa), plugged it into the USB port, downloaded Audacity, and can´t make it record. I don´t even see what I´m supposed to do to record. I haven´t found any manual on how to use Audacity, Can you tell me where to look? What´s the first step?
Edward

Here is the online manual: https://manual.audacityteam.org/

Post by **annise** » August 6th, 2020, 8:18 pm

I'm not sure at what stage you are stuck so this may not help , but a common problem that is not always evident is that you must tell audacity about the microphone - so you need to pick your microphone from the recording devices,
And you always need to plug your microphone in before you open audacity.

Anne

Post by **TriciaG** » August 7th, 2020, 5:42 am

And for the third response, here's our Newbie Guide, which gives a general outline of how to get started and has links to other information (such as how to install Audacity). https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Newbie_Guide_to_Recording

baqarah131 · Post by **baqarah131** » August 8th, 2020, 12:31 pm

annise wrote: ↑August 6th, 2020, 8:18 pm I'm not sure at what stage you are stuck so this may not help , but a common problem that is not always evident is that you must tell audacity about the microphone - so you need to pick your microphone from the recording devices,
And you always need to plug your microphone in before you open audacity.

Anne

You are right; Audacity is not recognizing my microphone. How do I "tell audacity about the microphone?" How do I "Pick microphone from the recording devices?
I'm keen to get to work. Appreciate your help.

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » August 8th, 2020, 1:15 pm

baqarah131 wrote: ↑August 8th, 2020, 12:31 pm
annise wrote: ↑August 6th, 2020, 8:18 pm I'm not sure at what stage you are stuck so this may not help , but a common problem that is not always evident is that you must tell audacity about the microphone - so you need to pick your microphone from the recording devices,
And you always need to plug your microphone in before you open audacity.

Anne
You are right; Audacity is not recognizing my microphone. How do I "tell audacity about the microphone?" How do I "Pick microphone from the recording devices?
I'm keen to get to work. Appreciate your help.

In my case, I have a pull-down menu next to an icon that looks like a microphone. I select my mic from that list. (I'm not entirely sure how to populate that list. It may do so automatically, or you may have to go to the settings of your computer to find the hardware first.)

Post by **TriciaG** » August 8th, 2020, 1:32 pm

Plug in your mic before starting Audacity.
- Then either go to Edit/Preferences/Devices and change the recording device there, or
- Keyboard shortcut: Shift-I (for "input") and select your mic there.

If you didn't plug in your mic first, it won't be on the list. You can go to Transport/Rescan Audio Devices. That'll add the mic to the list.