The recording and playback levels can be set using the sliders in the Recording and Playback meter toolbars:
The slider with the microphone icon sets the recording volume on a system level. If the operating system is prohibiting this action, this slider will be inactive.
The slider with the speaker icon sets the playback volume relative to the system volume. It does not affect the volume of exported files, use the gain sliders on each track to edit those.
Best practice: Before starting to record, click on the microphone icon and select Start Monitoring to activate the recording level meter. If it enters the yellow or red area (-9 dB to 0 dB) when testing with a normal volume, lower the recording level to prevent clipping and distortions in the real recording.
Audacity can use many types of microphones and other audio devices to record audio.
You can connect your mic by plugging it into the appropriate port. In general, this means:
If you have a USB mic, plug it into a USB port.
If you have a mic with a 3.5mm jack, plug it into a mic-in port.
If you have an XLR mic, plug it into an XLR-USB audio interface and the interface into the USB port.
How you will connect your microphone will depend on your computer model and your microphone. Use your manuals or support pages for further information. You may need adapters if your computer does not have the correct ports for your microphone.
Once you have plugged in your microphone into your computer, select the microphone to record from the list of available recording devices in the Audio Setup toolbar.
This toolbar may display some unexpected devices here (for example, webcams), as well as virtual devices (software pretending to be a microphone). Select the entry that matches the microphone you actually want to use. The Audio Setup toolbar will also allow you to select whether you'll be recording in Mono or Stereo.
Select the microphone icon and choose Start Monitoring (shown below) and tap your mic with your finger. If you see the green bar move when you tap the mic, you have selected the correct device in the previous step.
Then try to speak in a normal volume. In general, the volume should remain in the green zone throughout (in general, between -18 and -12 dB is best).
Caution: If your input volume is too low (below -42 dB) or too high (frequently in the red area), your audio quality will likely suffer. See this page for how to fix this:
Next, make a test recording. To start recording your voice in Audacity, simply press the red record button.
When you have ended the recording, listen back to it. If everything went well, you should now hear your voice clearly. Once you hear your voice clearly, you should now be able to continue with the next steps.
If you run into trouble with any of these steps, you may find the solution here:
Once you've made your recording, make sure to save your work. This applies regardless of whether you intend on editing it later or not.
If you want to edit your recording afterwards:
