While your Macintosh is a fantastic audio editing machine, you may have noticed that Garageband can only see one microphone at a time. All is not lost – Apple includes a tool that can be used to create an “Aggregate Device.” An Aggregate Device is what Apple calls a virtual input device – a device that looks like a microphone, but as you’ll see is actually more than one microphone combined into one option. How to do it, though?
For this answer, I’m going to use two microphones. One is a Logitech G330, and the other a Griffin iMic. I’ll combine these two devices into a single Aggregate Device which will allow me to use each mic as a channel in Garageband. I’m using Garageband version 5.1, and Audio MIDI Setup version 3.01. If you’re using different versions, your screens make look and act slightly different.
To start, unplug your microphones so you can follow along. Open Audio MIDI Setup from within your Utilities Folder. The Utilities folders is in your Applications folder (in case you’re wondering).
Make sure you’re in the Audio Devices window by choosing Show Audio Devices from the Window menu. If you’re in the right place, you’ll see a screen that looks something like the picture below.
Plug in your microphones. As you plug in your microphones, you’ll see them appear on the left side of the window.
Next you’ll create the Aggregate Device. Click the Add Device (the +) at the bottom left of the window.
A new device will appear named “Aggregate Device.”
If you’re going to using several configurations, it helps to give each configuration (Aggregate Device) a unique name. I chose “Multiple Mics” for this tutorial.
Make sure you’ve clicked the new Aggregate Device, and you’ll see a list of audio devices on the right. This list only includes real audio devices, and won’t include other aggregate devices you may add.
The next step is to choose which audio devices you want to include in your new Aggregate Device. I chose the “Logitech G330 Headset,” and the “iMic USB audio adaptor.” The iMic has an input and an output (you’ll see each listed). Notice that each iMic has their function listed in the “In” and “Out” columns.
Sometimes you may need to adjust the “Clock Source:” and the “Resample” options. Click the purple question mark to activate Apple’s Help System if you need more on how those work. A tell tale sign that you’ll need to adjust these settings is that one of your microphones will sound fuzzy or “digital.”
Great work! Now you have what appears to be a new microphone to all of the programs on your Mac.
Now let’s open Garageband, and choose Podcast as our new project!
The default setting for a new Podcast in Garageband will have two audio tracks. Click the first track, which is named “Male Voice.” That sets this track as active, and allows us to change setting for just this track. Notice the I in the bottom right corner of the window. This allows us to set the microphone settings and voice effects. Go ahead and click the I now.
Have a look at the Input Source menu. You’ll notice that there are several sources listed, all created by our Aggregate Device settings. The names all reflect the name we gave the Aggregate Device (in my case, “Multiple Mics.” You can choose to use your mic’s a stereo, or mono depending on your needs. Since the “virtual” devices aren’t named, you can just look at your Audio MIDI Setup window to see which order they appear in.
In my case, I wanted to assign the Logitech G330 to the “Male Voice” track.
The other track is set to use the Griffin iMic microphone.
A closing thought: if you want to record from both of these devices simultaneously, be sure to click the record button for both tracks.
There you have it. Two microphones in Garageband, with no additional software or hardware. You can use as many microphones this way as you have USB ports.
Utilizing his background in Internet and technology startups, contributor and tech expert Michael Sitarzewski thoroughly enjoys helping people understand and leverage technology. To learn more about Michael and his projects, visit Michael Sitarzewski..
I tried this method with Skype but am having no luck. Here is how I have set it up. What am I doing wrong? https://youtu.be/rqLzoCq8e18
Great, I am able to record simultaneously with voice and a guitar. Guitar through USB and Voice through the built in microphone on my MAC. the PROBLEM I have is that I can only hear the guitar through my headphones and not the voice while recording. During play back they are both there. Whilst playing I am unable to hear my voice. My headphones are plugged into the headphone jack. how can i hear both tracks while recording?
I did everything the way you lay it out on this page, and it all went fine. The problem now is that there are echoes being picked up by each microphone of the other vocalist/speaker. I think it’s a audio gain issue. Any advice?
Bill, I asked a good friend about your issue, and here’s what he said:
It sounds like he’s using Soundflower. There is a commercial app that will accomplish the same thing from Ambrosia:
http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wta/
There’s a 30 day free trial.
I have had great difficulty getting multiple mics to work. I create an aggregate device sometimes for 3 mic, sometimes for 4, and I use it to record a podcast where we’ve got a bunch of people talking into my MacBook. We tend to record in 15 minute segments, and inevitably, when I play back any of these tracks, within a few minutes, one of the voices begins to get very staticky, as if the recording of just that one mic is degrading very quickly, to the point where it really ruins the track. We have experimented with different USB headsets, different USB hubs, and I just can’t figure out what our problem is, because we used to be able to record alright, but our last few shows have had this problem, and it’s killing us. Any ideas how to troubleshoot this?
Hello Dave,
Im trying to install Perl on my WindowsXP 2002 with SP2 having x32 architecture. I was able to download the editor dzsoft and it was fine. However, I am having trouble with downloading ActivePerl. The file is in MSI format. Each time i try to run the file, it says i cannot. I suspect this may be because Perl is available only for x64 and x86 architecture. Is there a way i can get Perl for my x32 system?