How to record multiple USB mics or devices at the same time on MacOS

Are you planning an in-house interview with two speakers but don't have a multi-channel recording device? No problem! Follow these steps to connect multiple USB microphones as a virtual audio input that you can select in Descript. Note this currently only works with the desktop version of Descript.

MacOS includes a utility called Audio MIDI Setup that we'll use to combine your two USB devices as a single audio input. To get started, open a new Finder window and select your Applications tab in the left sidebar. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Utilities folder. There you can locate and open Audio MIDI Setup.

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Are you using Windows?

Windows does not natively support the use of multiple USB microphones simultaneously. To utilize more than one USB microphone, you will need to use third-party applications.

Click the Plus (+) button in the lower-left corner of the application and select Create Aggregate Device.

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Here you can see a list of USB microphone devices on your computer and select the checkbox next to each that you would like to add to your aggregate device.

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Make sure to check the Drift Correction checkbox next to each microphone to assure that each will be using the same sample rate during recording.

You will want to re-label the input channels as well for easier identification in Descript later on by double clicking on the channel name and typing in the name of each microphone / input. 

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You can also rename the aggregate device if desired.

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At that point, go ahead and restart Descript for the changes to take effect. When you open your Recording Settings, your new aggregate device will be listed along with your microphones, which you can select.

Once your aggregate device has been selected, you can now add your tracks to the Recording menu and select the desired channel for each.

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