I’ve got a semi complicated desktop setup, with multiple monitors, lots of USB stuff, and a few ways to record and listen to sound. I hadn’t thought of things as complex, especially with regards to audio, but between recording podcasts, having regular video conferences, and the speakers I added to my machine, I found the need to control where my audio goes in and out of.

The other day I was waiting for a conference call to start on Skype and was listening to an interview through my computer. I’d plugged in a USB headset for the call, but the interview (Flash-based web page), came through the speakers. I’ve gotten used to redirecting audio easily from the speakers to headphones to Bluetooth devices, but I wasn’t sure how to do this in Windows. I messed with the audio mixer a bit, but didn’t see anything.

I did a bit of searching and ran across this post on Superuser. I decided to blog briefly in the hopes that I’ll remember this process for next time.

The long and short of it was that I needed to right click the audio speaker icon.

I could then select Playback devices. This allows me to see the setup, not just the volume. I got the Control Panel app, with all my devices listed. I can also see the recording devices.

From here, if I right click a device, in this case, the USB headset, I can select "Set as Default".

Once I did this, the audio for the interview came through on the headset. I could listen and when my Skype call came in, it cut out and I could continue on with work.

This is especially handy for recording, as I’ve had the wrong device setup for recording at times because I’ve expected the default to be used.

Filed under: Blog Tagged: misc, syndicated