The Blue Mic in the Podcasting Room and the Audio Technica 2005USB in the Sound Rom are USB mics. To use them for recording, make sure they are plugged into the computer (in the space’s computer or your own) and do the following in Audacity:

1.) Open Audacity, the recording application you will be using. To do this, press the Command and F key (for “find”), type “Audacity” in the search box, and click on the application when it appears in the search results.
2.) In Audacity, select in the mic dropdown, “Blue USB” or “Audio Technica 2005USB,“ depending on the room you are using, and in the speaker dropdown select either “External Headphones,” if you have plugged in headphones to the audio jack in the back of the computer, or “iMac Speakers,” if you just want to use the computer speakers.

3.) To set the recording levels, click on “click to start monitoring.” You should see a green bar appear.

If you do not see levels, make sure the mic level in Audacity is up.

Speak into the mic at the volume you will be speaking during your recording and be the distance you plan to be from it. Adjust the mic levels using the slider so that at the loudest you will speak, the green hits between -12 and -6. Going above -6 can lead to distortion. (Learn more about using Audacity to record.)