Configure Audio Interface Fl Studio 20 Mac
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I’m going to show you how to set up a microphone in FL Studio.
This can all seem a little confusing when you are starting out. For this example, I am going to be using the following pieces of equipment:
- A condenser microphone
- A mic stand
- A microphone cable
- An audio interface
- FL Studio – Producer Edition
These are a few of the basic components that I recommend you have for your home studio. This is the process you go through when you first set up your microphone and get it working in FL Studio.
After you have done some of these steps, you won’t have to do them every time.
PUTTING TOGETHER THE PIECES
So let’s start with the basic mechanical stuff.
MIC STAND
We need to set up the mic stand. We’re going to screw in the mic basket. This is usually a unit that comes with the condenser mic to attach to the end of the mic stand.
You need to screw this in so that it’s seated all the way and tightened down.
Once that is tight, you can set the microphone into the basket on the stand. Also make sure that the screw that holds the microphone up is tightened down all the way, otherwise the microphone basket will drop, and could potentially fall out.
That’s not something you want to have happen with a mic you’ve spent a couple hundred dollars on.
POSITIONING THE MIC FOR SINGING
Next you want to get the stand set at a comfortable height and position for you to sing in.
I like to adjust the boom arm on the mic stand so that it has a little bit of an angle. This way I don’t have to worry about kicking the bottom of the stand while I am singing.
I like to set the height of the mic where it makes me slightly tilt my head upward. I heard a while back from a producer that when you do this, it forces the singer to open up a little more when they sing.
They end up projecting more. So I’ve always tried to set the height so that I tilt my head a little bit.
POP FILTER
Next I get the pop filter on the stand. I screw it onto the skinny part of the boom arm of the mic stand. Don’t put it up too close to where the mic basket is, otherwise it’s hard to get the pop filter into a position that works.
You have to let the pop filter stretch a little bit. I like to have about 1-2 inches away from the capsule of the microphone that you sing into.
And then I stand so that my mouth is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-8 inches away from the pop filter. This is just a rule of thumb. You can try different distances to see what you think works best for you. Each song will call for a different approach.
The closer you stand to the mic when you sing, the more bassy the vocal will sound (for the nerds out there, this is called proximity effect). The farther away you stand the more thin it will sound. And you will hear more of the room.
Plug in and turn phantom power on
So now that the microphone is positioned well for singing, let’s move into getting it plugged in and powered up.
Take the male end of the microphone cable that you have, and plug that into the microphone.
Now take your audio interface, that is plugged into your computer. Make sure that the phantom power is turned off.
If you have phantom power turned on when you first plug in a microphone, you can actually damage it. So don’t do that.
On my audio interface, there is a blue light and button that tells you if phantom power is on. Look for the button that says +48v or phantom power.
Plug the female end of the microphone cable into one of the channels that have phantom power available. Make sure to turn the gain down on the channel you are going to plug it into.
Once all the cables are seated in firmly both on the microphone and the audio interface, then turn the phantom power on.
Now nothing magical is going to happen at this point, because we have to get the program (DAW) set up to recognize your interface.
Making sure the audio interface is setup in FL studio
Setting up the interface can be a little bit of trial and error process. Especially when it comes to getting the buffer size correct for larger projects.
The larger a project gets, the more it taxes the memory and CPU of your machine. And when that starts happening, you can start getting glitches and pops in the audio.
So to keep it from popping and sounding bad let’s work on getting the settings correct.
SETTINGS
So open FL Studio. Press F10 to open up the settings window, and then navigate to the audio tab. You’ll see a couple of sections.
The first section is where you want to pick the audio driver. We will look for something that looks like the name of the interface that you have, but that is the ASIO driver.
I have a Presonus AudioBox iTwo interface, and the driver for my interface is called the AudioBox ASIO Driver.
After I have selected the driver, then I need to look at setting the sample size/buffer size. This is what will keep my computer from creating glitches and pops when I am recording.
When I click to change the buffer size for my interface, a separate window pops up from the manufacturer of the audio interface.
The window looks like this for my Presonus interface:
BUFFER SIZE
A rule of thumb here is to set the sample size as low as you can get it, without it causing problems in your audio.
I had my buffer size set to 256 samples for a while, but I noticed that when my projects started getting bigger, with more files, I was starting to get pops when I would record. So I ended up bumping up the sample size to 512 samples, and that solved the problem.
So you might be thinking to yourself, well if you set the number larger and it helps, why not set it to the highest number? Good question.
The buffer size you set also affects how you hear the sound in your headphones. So the higher you set the number, the more delay you hear. So if you set it really high and are recording your voice, you will hear a delay.
So while you are singing a new line, you might still be hearing a line that you just finished singing. That can really throw you off when you are recording.
So the balance is to find the lowest number you can go without creating pops, and not so high that you start hearing weird delays in what you are recording.
So try out either 256 or 512 samples first and see how that works for you.
Now you can exit out of the settings window by pressing F10 again.
Setup channel in FL Studio to record from
So now we have the mic, stand, and cable all connected. We’ve set up the audio interface so that we can record. Now all that’s left is to set up a channel to record in FL Studio.
Do set up this channel, we are going to work in the Mixer window. To open up the mixer, press F9. And you are going to see a window that looks something like this:
SETTING THE MIXER VIEW
If it doesn’t look exactly like this, that’s okay. It may just mean that your view is a little different than mine. If you want it to look the same, then select the VIEW drop down menu, and pick EXTRA wide, this will give you the same look that you see above.
The reason I like this view is because you can see all the effects that you have stacked on a channel at a glance. And you can click on those to quickly bring up the effect that you want to mess with. That can save a lot of time when you get into the mixing phase.
So now that we have the mixer windows looking the same, let’s click on one of the empty insert channels. For this example I am going to click on INSERT 5. There is no magic to this number, I’m just randomly selecting one.
MIXER CHANNEL INPUT
On the right side of the window you should see some options that say IN, then a bunch of empty slots, and the OUT. This is where you select the INPUT you want to use from your audio interface. And it’s where you can put the effects that you want to use on this channel if you want to.
So for this example, I plugged my mic into input 2 on my audio interface.
So when I click on the drop down menu for input, I should see a window that looks like this:
I want to make sure that I pick the MONO channel, since I am using a mono source, the microphone. If I had a stereo source, like a keyboard, that was plugged into Input 1 and input 2 on my interface, then I could select the stereo input.
But since the microphone is a single source, I select mono.
When I do that, you will see a few things happen on the insert channel.
The first thing is that you should see some green bars appear. This means that the channel is now getting a signal from your microphone. As you talk into the mic, you should see the bars go up and down.
ADJUSTING THE AUDIO INTERFACE GAIN
So what you want to do now is adjust the gain on your audio interface channel to that the peaks of the green bars are hitting between -16 and -12 on the Insert Channel. This is just setting the signal level for the source you are recording.
I’m just giving you a rule of thumb when you are starting out. Getting the audio level in that range will allow you to have good audio to work with, without all the crazy noise that can happen if you set it too low.
This is another Goldilocks kind of principle in audio recording. You want to set the audio loud enough that you can manipulate it without getting a lot of bad noise in the background, but you don’t want to set it too high, so that you can’t adjust it, or you get clipping.
So when you are setting your levels you want to get something in the middle.
FILENAME AND LOCATION OF RECORDING
The second thing that happens when you select the INPUT from the drop down menu is the Record Arm button lights up RED on the Insert Channel. This means that the channel is armed for recording.
Sounds dangerous, right?
If you right click on the red button, you will open up a window. That window will let you name the file what you want, and tell the program where you want to store the recorded file.
I like to name my audio clips with word that will help jog my memory about what the clip is about. For example, if I am singing a section of the song, I might name the file something like vox-verse1. That way once the clip is in the playlist, I can easily see what the content is.
NAME AND COLOR THE MIXER CHANNEL
Something else that I like to do to keep myself more organized in my projects is to color code the mixer channels that I am working on. This color coding transfers to the clips you record as well.
All the organization nerds just clapped their hands and cheered.
So select the mixer channel that you just set up your mic on. Press F2. This will bring up a dialog box that lets you name and color code the channel. So for my vocal, I would call it VOX, and I typically color the channel with a dark blue.
And I do this on all my projects. So when I open up a project and I see dark blue audio files in the playlist, I know that these are all vocal clips. I do the same thing with other instrument groups like drums, bass, synths, strings, etc.
I’m a very visual person, so it helps me see at a quick glance what all I have in a project, and I can quickly narrow down to what I am looking for.
I suggest that you develop your own color coding and naming system to help keep your projects organized. This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
CLICK TRACK
One thing that I want to give you a suggestion about, is that before you start recording vocals, I would put together your foundational elements of your track.
I like to set a metronome up and get the basic drum beat, and at least a scratch guitar track down set to the metronome, so that I know the timing of the song is going to be steady. That way when I go to record vocals, I don’t have to have the metronome in my ears.
This can be distracting, and it can also bleed into the recording it you have your volume up in your headphones.
So lay down some foundational elements, then record your vocals without the click track.
This will save you a lot of heartache of trying to clean up vocals that have a click in the background.
CONCLUSION
So now you know how to set up a mic in FL Studio.
I also go into detail on the recording process in another article on the site. So if you need some more of the nitty gritty details on the settings to use and some different methods of recording, then you can check that out.
That wasn’t so bad, was it?
Nope.
So what’s next? Well, I think that setting up a mic is a great part of the basics that you need in order to feel effective in using FL Studio as your DAW. I also have a resource that will walk you through the rest of the basics, like recording settings, working with midi , setting up drums, organizing your projects.
It’s a FREE course that will get you up to speed quickly and easily.
I’ll show you step-by-step a way to get familiar with FL Studio, and set you on your way to creating loads of music.
You can check out more information about the basics course here.
Well, that’s all I have for you.
I hope this was helpful.
Talk to you soon,
Jeremy
Disclosure: When you buy through our links, we may get a commission at zero cost to you.
I recently published a review and buyer’s guide on the top ten best audio interfaces you should get if you are serious about music production.
I broke down the factors you need to consider if you need to get a superb interface, and I rounded up the post by recommending the ten best audio interface.
Since Fl studio is one of the most downloaded and used DAW application in the world, it make sense to consider recommending an interface that works best for Fl, though any audio interface / external sound-card should be able to work with Fl right out-of-the-box, as long as you have a way of connecting the audio interface to some computer with cables.
Regardless of the situation, Let me guide you on how to choose an interface for Fl studio, tips and my recommendations.
Page Contents
- How To Choose Your FL Studio Audio Interface
- Input and Output Count (I/O)
- Recommended Audio Interface For Fl Studio
- One Last Thing!
Helpful Guide & Tips!
As you all know, an audio interface is responsible for the playback of your audio from your computer, and your pc comes preloaded with one (it might likely be in your pc or a chip on your motherboard), that chip is the one responsible for making the sound you hear or in playback.
Even if your PC has an interface by default, you might still need an external audio interface for various reasons.
And here’s why you might need one…
- You need an audio interface if you want to work with a professional microphone (XLR).
- The default interface chip on your motherboard won’t be able to correctly plug-in a balanced input, if you wish to properly plug in a balanced input or a good pair of studio monitors to check your mixes on, without an external audio interface, you won’t have anywhere to plug those in.
- If you plan on recording live instruments or vocal.
An audio interface or an external sound card would make you listen to a better representation of an audio sample.
Does that imply choosing any interface?
Fat No!
There are lots to consider before choosing an interface, knowing these factors would not only be useful but a lifesaver for you.
Before I list the things you need to consider before choosing an interface for Fl studio, let me answer one of the most asked questions about an interface.
Would an audio interface affect the quality of your rendered track?
An audio interface is used to playback a better and more precise version of your digital audio data that has been processed by your daw or music production software.
It has nothing to do with the quality of your rendered (output) tracks except if used to record or recorded sample in your track.
I guess this is an eye-opener for you about how an audio interface work, Let’s work through the proper way of choosing an audio interface for Fl Studio.
How To Choose Your FL Studio Audio Interface
There are a few factors to take into consideration when sifting through audio interfaces. I covered this part in the best audio interface guide, and I’ll cover it again.
Here’s a checklist to use:
Your Budget
The more you pay for an audio interface doesn’t result to a better interface, if you are not going for multiple recording, and if otherwise, go for a higher range (which is recommended in this guide).
Audio Interface Connector
Types of connectors are USB, Firewire and Thunderbolts. USB is mostly used in a home studio, and if your budget carries the weight, you can opt for Firewire. From personal experience, If you need a faster data transfer rate, go for Thunderbolt; it’s faster than either USB or Firewire.
Note: The higher you go, the better the transfer rate, and an added plus to your dough.
Input and Output Count (I/O)
I can’t stress this enough If you are going for multiple recordings; opt for more inputs and output for your equipment, and if you are going for fewer records; go for lesser input and output.
Don’t waste money on more input where you likely won’t use it.
Alternatively, you can use Adat for expansion, which I would explain in the next section.
Added Tip For Input and Output Count (I/O)
I/O is confusing to some, but it’s plain simple.
This is what it means…
Input means you are connecting a device into your audio interface to feed your DAW, for example, if you are recording a vocal with your mic, all you are doing is feeding your DAW the audio data recorded from your Mic.
Output means your sending “Out”, e.g. send data from your DAW software to either your studio speakers or your headphone.
Just remember – Input means “In”, and Output means “Out.”
ADAT For Expansion
This is good for minimising load (I/O), as well as maximising the Input and Output count. An Adat enabled interface will help you to expand your input count with an optical cable without buying a new interface with more count.
The cost of an ADAT-equipped interface is cheaper than buying an interface with various inputs on board.
Recommended Audio Interface For Fl Studio
Time to make your choice of an Audio interface for Fl Studio. The advantage of Fl studio 20 is that it has a super-intuitive user interface, and immensely easier to learn if you have no prior experience.
I selected some Thunderbolt connectivity interface as it is the fastest, and also some interface with an ADAT option. I also chose some USB interface as it’s relatively cheap.
As you read along with the recommendation below, note the Input and Output count if it’s expandable (ADAT), and the connector (USB or Thunderbolt).
1. UA Apollo Twin (2-in/6-out)
An audio interface wouldn’t affect the quality of rendered track unless if used to record directly into your DAW but do know UA Apollo Twin can reduce the strain on your host CPU.
It does Real-time UAD Processing for tracking through vintage compressors, EQ’s, tape machines, mic preamps, and guitar amp plug-ins with very low latency.
It’s a USB 3 audio interface that allows you to record faster than the regular USB 2.0 bus-powered. You are also powered with a stunning 24/192kHz audio conversion rate and high-quality Mic preamps.
What’s interesting about this interface is that you have an ADAT in, meaning you can expand the input of your audio interface, and also use it for processing with almost zero latency.
Who is this recommended for? – Studio of all level who wants a compact, and a portable audio interface while also providing a pro sound quality with options to expand with an ADAT in.
Technical Specifications
- 2 -input/6-output
- ADAT for more input expandability
- USB 3.0 bus-powered
- 24bit/192khz
- Compatible with Windows 7 or higher (64-bit Editions) only
- It Includes ‘Realtime Analog Classics’ plug-in bundle – featuring a vintage compressor, EQs and so on.
2. Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 (8-in/6-out)
This is one of my favorite interface of all time, and I like if for a couple of reasons:
You get high-end features at a reasonable price, come bundled with an 8-in/6-out Firewire interface with two astonishing Focusrite Mic preamps, XLR combo inputs (for balance input), line and instrument ins, and to sum all, you get an onboard DSP mixer that optimizes performance.
If you are a newbie and you’re just getting started with a suite of plugins, then you would find the latest version of the Focusrite plug-in suite useful, the suite includes Reverb, Compression, Gating, and EQ – both VST and AU compatible.
That’s not all. You also have an addition plugin packed with Saffire Pro – Xcite, which features lots of royalty-free loops, and a soft-synth to start making music right away.
In cases where you need to upgrade your connectivity, you can go from firewire to Thunderbolt with an adapter.
Technical Specifications
- 8 -input/6-output
- Firewire
- 24bit/96khz
- Xcite+ software bundle
3. Focusrite Scarlett (2-in/2-out)
Haha! One of the most used home studio interface in the world due to its portability and achieving great sound right out of the box.
You would love how this seamlessly integrates with Fl studio, a stunning conversion and sample rates up to 192kHz / 24 bit-perfect for recording two mics at once. No worries with the Mic part, you have two natural-sounding Scarlett mic preamps and the same sound quality and digital conversion as the rest of the Scarlett range.
Configure Audio Interface Fl Studio 20 Mac
If all you need is a compact audio interface you can use on the go, and you don’t need a lot of I/O’s, I strongly recommend this audio interface for your Fl setup. It would serve you well.
Who is this recommended for? – Beginner Studio who isn’t too concern about more I/O, or who isn’t interested in connecting multiple instruments at once.
Technical Specifications
- 2 -input/2-output
- No ADAT option
- USB bus-powered
- 24bit/192khz
- Compatible with Windows 7 or higher, and Mac OS X 10.10
or higher
4. Audient iD14 (10-in/14-out)
Audient iD14 provides you with high-performance conversion and a sample rate of up to 24bit/96khz. It has a few more ins and outs than most of the recommended interface on this page, and the most interesting thing is that you can expand the input with ADAT in, giving you an extra layer of 8-Channel.
Rugged designed with two Audient console mic preamp, and Burr-Brown converter technology. That’s not all. You have an option for user-defined function keys; customized the way you like, and make it the hub of your studio
Who is this recommended for? – Beginner and Professional Studios who would love to start with more inputs, and expand if necessary with ADAT option.
Technical Specifications
- 10 -input/4-output + 2 Mic Preamps
- ADAT for more input expandability
- USB 2.0 bus-powered
- 24bit/96khz
- Compatible with Windows 10 & macOS High Sierra
5. PreSonus AudioBox (2-in/2-out)
If you are familiar with Studio One DAW, then you should be on the lookout for this one, as Presonus themselves are developing it. Decent priced audio interface packed with lots of amazing features and free tools.
It is a 24-bit resolution device and has a high-quality sampling rate of 44.1 and 48KHz. The new version goes all the way to 96 kHz – which makes it ideal for recording instruments, and vocal.
Configure Audio Interface Fl Studio 20 Mac Download
One of the features I love about PreSonus AudioBox is the Asio Compatibility, which means a significant performance advantage when running FL Studio.
Technical Specifications
- 2-input/2-output channel
- No ADAT option
- USB 2.0 bus powered
- 24-bit/96kHz
One Last Thing!
I hopefully guided you through buying a better interface for Fl Studio, and I gave you some insight on how to choose an audio interface that fits your need, the next thing you need to do is to set up and start using your interface.
If you are using Focusrite Scarlett together with Fl Studio, you can check how to get it set-up in this guide – How To Use Focusrite USB Audio Interface With Fl Studio.
If you aren’t familiar or don’t know much about setting up an interface, use the manual (it’s made to guide you), or drop your comment, and I’ll help you out hopefully.
Linux Configure Network Interface
Good luck with good music, and I hope to see you at the top.