Audio Solutions Question of the Week: Can I Use Two USB Microphones at the Same Time?
Question: Can I use two USB microphones at the same time?
Answer: Yes, but it takes some work. A USB microphone is a convenient way to get audio into your recording, meeting, podcast, or video program. It is, for the most part, “plug and play,” which is the reason it is so popular. There are times, however, when you need to use two microphones, such as when you want to pick up two different people at the same time. One would think that you could simply plug in another USB microphone and start your program. The truth is, that simply will not work because the computer gets confused. This same issue occurs in both Windows and Mac computer systems.
So how do we resolve this? On a Mac system you need to do some configuration with an internal utility program. Below we will talk about how to configure this. On a Windows system you need to install software that acts as an intermediary between the microphones and the program you are using. We will cover Windows in a future Question of the Week.
Mac
To use two USB microphones on a Mac you need to create an “Aggregate Device” using an application in the utility folder.
- Plug in both microphones.
- In the Applications folder select Utilities and then Audio MIDI Setup.
3. When the application opens, create an “Aggregate Device” by clicking on the “+” symbol in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen and selecting Create Aggregate Device.
4. Select the Aggregate Device you just created. On the right side of the screen, select the two USB microphones that show a number in the “In” column. (Please note that in this example we are working with Aggregate Device 2 since another Aggregate Device had already been created on the computer.)
5. On the left side, click on the Aggregate Device and rename it something meaningful. Here we use the name “My Two Mics.”
6. Close the window and open System Preferences → Sound → In the Input tab you should see My Two Mics.
7. Open your recording program of choice (in this example we are using Reaper) and select My Two Mics as the inputs.
8. As you create tracks you will be able to select either of the two microphones as the source.
If you have further questions about our USB mics or any Audio-Technica product, please contact us at info@tag.com.au for additional assistance.