Understanding the Audio Interface
The audio interface, sometimes referred to as the sound card, or pre-amp, serves as the central hub in our recording rooms. It connects everything together: speakers to the outputs labeled 1 & 2 at the back, the microphone to the inputs on the front left, and headphones to the front right outputs. Your laptop or computer will need to be connected to the back of the interface using a USB cable - the USB connection on the interface is USB-C type.
Please note: you can not use a Chromebook with our Focusrite recording interfaces — they only support Mac and Windows.
Most of our Pro recording studio have this Focusrite Clarett 4 Pre USB (pictured above)
Troubleshooting Connection Issues
Experiencing trouble connecting to the interface? Follow these steps to ensure a proper connection:
1. Connect your laptop to the interface using the USB cable provided (or your own). We usually provide 2 different types of USB cable (USB-C to standard USB and USB-C to USB-C) so it's really important to make sure the cable you are using is the same one connected into the back of the interface!
2. Check the front panel for the USB light indicator. All three green lights above the monitor control should be lit when successfully connected via USB. If the middle green light is off, the USB is not properly connected - double check that cable you connected to your laptop is 100% the same cable connected into the back of the interface.
3. If all 3 green lights are on then you have successfully connected to the audio interface - you should now see the device as an audio input and output source in your laptop and your recording software!
Connected but having problems
If you have successfully connected and have all 3 green lights on the interface but are still having trouble you may need to factory reset the interface.
Here is a short video guide to help better show the connection to the interface:
Common issues and fixes
- Volume control does not work: the speakers are connected to the wrong outputs - the 2 yellow speaker cables need to connect to outputs 1 & 2 instead of numbers 3 & 4
- USB light is not on: follow the USB cable back from your laptop to the back of the interface, make sure the correct one is connected to the back of the interface
- Mic issues: check out the article here
- Speaker issues: check out the article here
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Windows only - Crashing/Blue Screen issue: "Your PC ran into a problem" - If Focusrite keeps causing a Windows computer to crash when it gets plugged in, check to see if McAfee Antivirus is installed. That will be the reason it's crashing. Un-install McAfee to remove the issue. A full guide on this is here.