Audacity is not playing back what is being recorded

Learn about causes and fixes for this problem.

Causes

By default, Audacity doesn't play back the input.

Fixes

Go to Transport -> Transport Options -> Enable audible input monitoring.

Notes:

• You will hear what you are recording a noticeable time afterwards. This delay is called latency. You can somewhat reduce this latency as described in Latency Compensation but it cannot be fully removed if you're using input monitoring in Audacity - you will need an audio interface with realtime monitoring capabilities to completely remove latency when monitoring a recording.

• If you want to listen to the input before recording, click the microphone in the recording meter and then Enable silent monitoring.

• Input monitoring can also be enabled In the Recording section of the Preferences window.

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