Right click the Firepod control panel icon to lower the central processing unit (CPU) of your Firepod to "Low" if you have audio drop-outs. Drop-outs can happen when your processor speed cannot buffer the audio quickly enough.
Turn on the 48-volt phantom power if you do not receive a signal when you plug your microphone into channel one or two. You will see the input meter of the Firepod react to your speaking. The phantom power has push button switches on the front panel of your Firepod. Press the top button for channels one or two. Make certain you check the manual for your microphone if you use a ribbon microphone--phantom power can damage some ribbon microphones.
Check to ensure you have nothing connected to the line input behind your Firepod if you cannot get a signal from your microphone in the first two channels. Usually you would have active instruments plugged into the line input, as well as devices such as a CD player. These line inputs have priority over your microphone, which will not work until you remove a cable from line input one or two.
Increase the latency settings of your Firepod's hardware control panel if you have dropouts, pops and clicks due to running many plugins, causing high central processor unit (CPU) loads. The latency setting represents how much of a delay your Firepod has for the computer to process the audio. Increase the latency by going to the control panel under Hardware Settings, and clicking on the drop-down arrow. Select the latency you desire, represented in milliseconds.
Check the connections of your Firepod and computer if you see a red light on the front of your Firepod. The red light, a word clock sync indicator, means your Firepod does not have synchronization. Your Firepod needs to have correct word clock in order to synchronize or match frame rates. With your Mac, open the Audio Midi Setup and change the format sample rate speed to anything other than what you see displayed. You will see a blue light indicating you reset the synchronization successfully. Reset the format sample rate to the setting you desire.