Audient ID22 interface and AT50 headphones on a table

The other day I hopped on to Discord to do some voice acing. I set the audio to my XLR mic, it looked like it was working, hopped into the chat and…yeah. Digitally noise with spurts of audio. Not exactly useful and not even vaguely better than just using the laptop mic.

I did end up using the laptop mic for that session but I was determined to get the XLR to work.

Turns out XLR mics on a Mac on Discord are not fully supported. But with some guides and some tinkering I got it work.

I happen to have the Rogue Amoeba app Loopback that lets you do fancy things with your various audio inputs and outputs. I use to patch my DAW into Zoom/Riverside.fm Skype etc. BUT it also turned out to be the solution to this problem.

  1. Install Loopback
  2. Open Loopback and click the + next to the “New Virtual Device”
    • Under Sources click the +
    • Select your audio device (aka your interface)
    • It should be showing as “on” in the toggle at the top (if not toggle it to on)
    • Select “Pass-Thru” input and click the “Delete button” at the bottom of the loopback screen.
    • Make sure the virtual device you created also is toggled on.
    • Feel free to rename it but by default it will be named “Loopback Audio”
  3. In Discord go to User Settings (gear icon below the channel/username listing to the right of your name.
  4. Scroll down and select “Voice and Video”
  5. Under “Input Device” scroll down and select your virtual device (aka “Loopback Audio” from above)
  6. Hit “Esc”
  7. Voila it should work!

When you want to use your XLR mic with Discord you do need to start loopback but it should result in normal sounding audio.

A couple of additional points:

  • You can use other apps for this. The FocusRite article that led me to the right solution used: iShowU Audio Capture. And they mentioned an app called Blackhole.
  • If you only have one input on your Audio Interface all your audio will be in one channel (Left in my case). You may want to click on the left channel and drag it to “Channel 2 (R)” on the output so your audio will play on the left and right headphone.

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Words alone are so weak when it comes to capturing  experience. Yet here I write hoping to convey a spot of what I experienced at Get Your Game On London, a one day conference with two days of intensives.  

Friday, the day of the conference, I found that I was amongst my people. Though I knew few folks before I came, each conversation I had showed me the many ways we connected. In the conference itself each speaker inspired and taught something new, yet each talk connected. I was inspired and I wanted to do more. I was in awe of what had been created and put into a day of a conference. 

Saturday morning rolled around and although I came alone, I was already sitting with others at the table as we each shared who we were going to be learning with these next two days.  For me and many at my table it would be Andrea Toyias.

Get Your Game On London program

For anyone into voice acting in video games she is a name.  And she is a powerhouse. In her talk at the conference she said “I want your soul”. She did and she knew how to reach each of us and help us unlock it. An intensive sounds like a concentrated workshop.  It was so much more, two days of transformational learning and bonding occurred.

We came together as mostly strangers, perhaps good acquaintances. When we left we had bonded and connected in a deep way as, dare I claim it, friends from having learned from each other, have taught each other, and having been present for each other.  

In theater we speak of the sacred stage. That room was our sacred stage.  We learned how to delve deeper into the characters we were given how to crack ourselves open to allow our souls to shine within the characters we are given – be they human or creature.  For me acting is about story and connection (and ultimately story is about connection). In those two days we connected and transformed each other.  

I look forward to seeing where each one of us takes this transformation and what they reveal next.

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Been a While

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The Bookstore

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Bound books on wooden shelves Whisper their mysteries; Paths unexplored, Memories tapped, And songs refrained. The scent of old paper And new Tumbles through the air And taunts, “Open me And grow” 5/27/2014

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