by Dan Moren
Recording on two USB mics with GarageBand
A friend emailed me about podcasting earlier today–she’s an academic who’s looking to set up a podcast as part of her research–and one of the questions she had was about recording in-person interviews. I have rarely recorded on separate mics in the same room, and I found myself wondering how difficult that would be with a couple cheap USB mics like the Audio Technica ATR-2100 that Jason and I have both recommended in the past.
I should have known that the answer would come from a column by our old friend and colleague Chris Breen. Chris explains how to use that funky Audio MIDI Setup app in your Utilities folder to create an aggregate sound input that you can then use to record separate tracks in GarageBand.1 I tested it out myself with my ATR-2100 and Blue Yeti, and though it took a little fiddling, it eventually worked. (The main quirk was that the ATR-2100 shows up as two separate devices in Audio MIDI Setup, so I had to do a little trial and error to figure out the correct settings.)
So, if you’re looking to set up a podcast recording with more than one person around a mic, you should definitely be following Chris’s instructions.