Microphone not responding on pro tools

[JamesonZayas]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been having a trouble issue with my microphone since I change to Ventura 13.3 on my mac using Pro tools Studio 2023
My bluebird SL is connected it to Universal Audio Apollo x4, when I setup a mono Audio Track and a Aux channel for plugins I usually put all the plugins I use and I bus correctly, then I hit record and Apollo interface is detecting the microphone’s signal but pro tools IS NOT RECEIVING THE SIGNAL (Main Problem). I tried I/O setup and default the Input, Output and bus and nothing, my playback engine is synchronized with Universal Audio Apollo x4. Double check The XRL cable that is connected to apollo is well connected and on my microphone too and on Apollo is in mic”. +48V is activated on Apollo and another detail is that The mic doesn’t have a phantom power on it. I tried to hit record on the Mono channel without using Aux channel to see If that could be the problem but nothing. This is the first time I tried to record since I change to Ventura on my mac, I never had any issues to record with this microphone. I’ve been having a hard headache with this…

Any ideas?

[Darryl Ramm]

What macOS version did you upgrade from?

A common cause of no Mic input to a DAW on modern macOS versions is you have not authorized that DAW with "Mic Input" privacy privileges. In System Settings>Privacy & Security>Microphone. Pro Tools should prod you to do this, but check the settings regardless.

But what do you mean by... "and another detail is that The mic doesn’t have a phantom power on it. I"... how *exactly* are you telling this? If your interface is not providing phantom power or the cable you are using is faulty and the DC phantom power not getting through then the mic will not work (or it might provide *extremely* low signal output). And if you did not have phantom power you would not be seeing a healthy signal at the interface meters. If there is a phantom power problem that in no way has anything to do with Pro Tools. But I still cannot understand what you are saying.

[JamesonZayas]

Hey Darryl,

I upgrade from MacOS High Sierra, I changed the OS because this new version Of Pro tools required MacOS Catalina 10.15 or Ventura 13.2

I did that step too, on Privacy & Security, but I don’t see pro tools showing to be able to authorize. Actually nothing is showing in the window when I hit Microphone.

About the phantom power I just tried to say that the microphone doesn’t have a phantom power botton or something to be able to turn off and on like other microphones thats all.

[Darryl Ramm]

Very few phantom powered microphones have a way to turn off phantom power or any way to turn off the mic. But anyhow that's just not relevant.

What is relevant is your privacy & security seems messed up. No app will provide audio input without being listed with Mic privileges. Make sure you are looking at the correct settings page. It should look something like the attached screenshot with every app capable of recording stuff listed and the app "mic" either enabled or not. It's not enabling a mic per se, it's enabling any audio input through that app.

Did you try to do an in-situ upgrade upgrade from your old macOS install to Ventura or did you follow the common advice here and do a clean install of Ventura?

You can try uninstalling Pro Tools (be paranoid and run the uninstaller in the Avid uninstallers folder in /Applications don't just drag the app to the trash) and run the installer again and then watch carefully for prompts about approving Mic input for Pro Tools. If you did not do a clean new macOS install now may be the time to do that and reduce risks of any other problems turning up. Including in this you should be very carefully checking you have upgraded to latest Ventura compatible plugins.

[JamesonZayas]

I appreciated your help, then it seems that my privacy & setting are all messed up for sure. Thanks for the advice, with this direction it seems that could fix the problem. I’ll give you some update later. Be Blessed