Using external mic connected to headset

Hello.
I recently bought a GE headset, complete with a removable mic and in-line audio control. (This puppy: http://www.amazon.com/Jasho98970-Portable-Headset-Detachable-Mic/dp/B000BY9F38)
The mic isn't working at the moment. I did go to System Prefs and make all the required line-in changes, but it made no difference. I'm aware of the need for a preamp or battery if the mic is connected directly to the computer, but I was wondering if the fact that it connects to the headphones (which do work quite well) makes any difference, and if I'm missing anything. If not, could someone recommend a fairly inexpensive headset that would work? I don't need perfect sound, but it would be ideal if the mic could stand up to soprano singing at a rather high volume.

Anybody ever resolve this issue???
I'm having the same problem. Same mic/headseat unit. I'm trying to use mine with
video chat on games ie. World of Warcraft etc. My built in mic works but I can't get the line-in mic to work at all. I've gone through all the MacBook audio settings and it still doesn't work. Any suggestions for compatible headset/mic
apparatus???
Thanks

Similar Messages

Using External Mic/Headset

I just bought an external microphone/headset for my iMac G5, because the fans are so loud, people talking to me, can't hear me over my fans.
Well, they didn't work.
Now, the first thing I thought wasn't a flaw in the head set, but my first assumption was a flaw in the iMac. Why? Because I've noticed in the past that apple doesn't do things that are obvious and that would make sence.
Sure enough, the iMac G5 doesn't work with external mics.
Now. My question: Has anyone been able to get a regular external mic to work with decent audio with the iMac G5 without spending any more money that a regular headset from walmart would cost? Or should I return this perfectly working headset because of Apple?

Hello,
That is a Line-in port.
The operative word here is "Line"
A "Line" in port expects "Line-Level" audio.
Line-level audio is the level of audio you would find on the RCA jacks on your component stereo system's CD-Player, Tape Deck, etc.
Two devices commonly need pre-amplification. Those are Microphones and Record Players / Turn-Tables.
Neither of those devices provides a line-level audio signal. They both need to be pre-amplified first.
Pre-Amplified computer microphones are getting harder to find. But, they are available.
A pre-amplified microphone will have it's own power source (such as a set of AAA batteries). And, it will amplify the signal prior to sending it to the computer.
Don't make the mistake of purchasing a microphone that claims to be "amplified" and does not contain it's own power source. That is not the same thing. Rather it is a rather loose use of the term Amplified. I've seen lots of so-called "Amplified" Mic's that did not contain any form of booster at all.
Make sure you purchase one that has it's own power source (such as batteries).
Here is one example:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=24501
Or, if you use a regular Microphone like the one you have, you can purchase a "pre-amplifier". This is simply a small powered signal booster that plugs-in between your computer and the microphone. It will amplify the signal to "line-level" before sending it to the computer.
Unfortunately, pre-amplifiers can be rather expensive for small ones, and rather large for the cheaper ones.
If you are handy with electronics, here's a document on how to build your own pre-amp circuit:
http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/micamp.html
One external solution around $120 is this simple and compact pre-amp:
http://www.microphones.com/microphonegroup.cfm?URLID=Preamp-Series
There are several USB and FireWire solutions that are much cheaper.
Such as:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
But, they sometimes cause a bit of "latency" in your recording. Simply put, if you were singing along with something or needed your speech to be synchronized, then the USB or FireWire audio method might cause a noticeable delay in your recording.
If the only thing you are recording is your speech, then a bit of a delay in your recording probably would not be as noticeable.
The reason you can use a cheaper Microphone with a PC, is that it actually has both a Line-Level jack and a Microphone specific jack. Older Mac's such as the G3's had both as well. But, the newer Mac's just have the Line-Level jack.
Now, if you just want to use your existing Microphone, you could try using the Griffin iMic to make your current microphone work:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
It's about $40.
But, if you are wanting a simple and self-contained solution, then you might just go with a USB microphone.
Just keep in mind that you may have a bit of delay with a USB solution (either USB Mic or USB PreAmp) when you are speaking.
I have not used these, but here is a couple of USB Microphone solutions:
Microphone:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810
Head-set and Microphone:
http://www.macnn.com/reviews/review.php?id=199
Let me know if you have other questions.
I hope this helps.

Using external mic (Audio Technica Pro 70) on MacBook Pro (2012)

Hello, I am fairly new to the MacBook and not sure of many of its features. I need to use an external mic Audio Technica Pro 70 on my MacBook. I read in some forums that I just plug it into the headphone jack and change the settings via system preferences. When I tried to do this by going to Sound>Input I only see an option for the internal mic. Is there something I'm not getting or missing?
Operating system: OS X Yosemite 10.10
Thank you for your time.

Hey AddiXtioN,
Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like your external mic isn’t recognized when plugged into your MacBook Pro. The article linked below provides troubleshooting tips and details about the process of connecting an external microphone to your Mac.
OS X Yosemite: Adjust your computer’s sound input settings
Take care,
-Jason

Using external mic on the N95

I've just bought an N95 and have been trying to connect an external (Shure) mic with a 3.5mm connection. When I insert it it is detected by the phone, but the only three options are Headphones, TV Out and Music Stand. Whichever I select the phone reverts to using the internal mic.
I'd like to use it to record sessions with my band, and don't see why this shouldn't be possible - anyone got any suggestions??
Thanks in advance!
Rob

Hey Guys, here it is.
We've done the external mic succesfully both as a wireless solution and as wired. Using a bluetooth mic will work, but beware that there are audio conflicts between bluetooth and WiFi on the N95. So if using bluetooth, use operator connection only.
If you want to use a wired external mic, buy a 4 pole 3.5mm jack, not the standard 3 pole headphone jack. Wire the outer two connections too your mono mic, and leave the other two unconnected. That's all there is to it. Your microphone may require a power source depending on the model.
The Reuters toolkit shows a Sony ECM-MS907 mic. This is stereo and not needed as the N95 can only accomodate a mono input.
We also made an adapter to allow a wireless FM signal to feed audio via the internal FM receiver. This is great for bands or lectures. use the uadio from the mixing console and walk around the room with the N95, still getting the same clean signal.
And now a shameless plug. Visit comvu.com for free webcasting software. This allows you to broadcast from the N95 to the web LIVE and have your friends watch it live as well from a PC or their phone.
Enjoy the Christmas present.

Audio problems using external mic

Hi,
I'm having problems hearing audio that was recorded using an external mic - both wireless and wired handhelds.
I can hear the audio through the camera (Canon GL2 dv)
but not during importing into IMovie HD 5.02.
After import I still can't hear audio. All volumes are up and on and boxes are checked. Is there an audio patch?
Please help!

Hi Sue,
No that didn't solve the problem either.
It seems to be a problem with IMovie.
You can hear the audio using Final Cut Pro.

No sound for voiceover using external mic

Im trying to do a voiceover in timeline of FCP with my handheld mic. But i get no sound. i only get sound from built in mic. My handheld mic is plugged into back of Mac using a mini plug. I changed system (Audio) settings to external mic, but still no sound.

Hello Michael,
You said:
Michael Grenadier wrote:
When you open the audio preferences in system preferences and go to the input tab and choose the external mic, do you see the level's moving. And are you sure you're plugged into a mic input. Not sure what kind of mac has an mic input. There is a digital audio input on some macs, Not the same thing.
I'm puzzled by this, as what possible use can a digital audio input have, if not for jobs like this?
I'm trying to use a mini jack mic, but I can't even get this to show any activity in the system audio preference pane. It shows under 'Line in" an 'Audio line-in port', but it shows that (whatever that is) whether the mic is plugged in or not. I suspect it hasn't recognised it.
I'm using a 24" iMac running Snow Leopard, and working in iMovie 09.
Have you any idea what I need to do? I don't really want to work outside the iMovie environment.
Thanks.

Distorted Tempo Using External Mic

Hello,
I've been trying to record my electric guitar using an external mic with a USB attachment, but whenever I record in Garageband, the tempo is always slightly distorted. It's not that I'm playing off tempo because I recorded the same attempts with a tape player and the results have been fine. Has anyone else had this problem or know how to solve it?

Go to GB help and type in quantize, you read about your issue there.
Good luck

HP dv6 - no sound when using external mic

Hi everyone
when plugging in an external device to the external mic jack, I get no sound from the speakers/ or headphones as I am recording!
It does still record though.
How can I get sound through my speakers as I am recording?
Also to get it to record in stereo, I have to plug into the external mic jack only halfway. if I plug in all the way I get only mono output!
Any suggestions on these issues?
thanks!

Hello papeek,
What is your product number and operating system?
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

Problem using external mic with imovie

My internal mic does not work; Ihave bought a logitech external mic that shows up as working but imovie does not record my voice.

Save the files that you want on the external hard drive to a data DVD or CD and then reformat.
See http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11045569#11045569

Using External HD connected to Time Capsule

I am posting this mainly as a success story, but if anyone sees a potential pitfall with my setup please speak up. I am a brand new Mac user as of two months ago. I purchased a new iMac (intel) with OS(X) Leopard and a 500GB Time Capsule. The learning curve has been significant but I am very happy so far. A couple of days ago I bought a 1TB external Hard Drive with the idea of connecting it via USB to the Time Capsule. With only a couple of surprises along the way it seems to be working fine even though I have it set up opposite the norm. That is I am using the External drive for the Time Machine back ups and the Time Capsule as extra storage. I also decided to partition the external drive into two parts so that Time Machine would not fill up the whole drive. The reason being I wanted to backup a few things manually rather than with Time Machine. One partition named TM Backups and the other Manual Backups.
Now for the surprises. I made my first backup to the External Drive by connecting it directly to the computer since it is a faster connection. I did both a Time Machine and a manual backup that way. The first surprise was that Time Machine did not produce a sparsebundle file like I was used to seeing but rather a Backups.backupdb folder that I could explore using finder. When I unplugged the drive and reconnected it to the Time Capsule, the first thing I got was an error message claiming that the drive was not formated in Mac OS extended (journaled) as required. The best I remember, I clicked past that and opened Time Machine Preferences and reselected that drive to be used with Time Machine and had to enter the password for the Time Capsule. After that is seemed to connect fine. However Time Machine proceeded to back up the whole computer from scratch this time using a sparsebundle file which took about 4 hours. So basically it did not save any time to do the initial Time Machine backup directly connected to the computer, although the files I backed up manually that way did save time. The next surprise was that once connected through the Time Capsule I could no longer explore the Backups.backupdb folder with finder. I could see all the folders but none of the files in them. I briefly reconnected the drive to the computer and they were all still there but I could not see them through the Time Capsule USB connection. So Time Machine uses different methods of storing backups when connected through the Time Capsule versus a direct connection. I'm just going to leave it that way as it does not seem to be causing a problem. The last surprise is that when the Time Machine backup file is mounted (which I still don't fully understand what it means to be mounted) and I select it with finder and select "get info" it tells me the volume is formated in Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitve, Journaled). When the drive is connected directly to the computer it says it is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). What the **** how can that be???
And is that normal? Well . . . it seems to be working perfectly. Does anybody think this will be a problem down the road?

Da Soundman wrote:
Now for the surprises. I made my first backup to the External Drive by connecting it directly to the computer since it is a faster connection. I did both a Time Machine and a manual backup that way. The first surprise was that Time Machine did not produce a sparsebundle file like I was used to seeing but rather a Backups.backupdb folder that I could explore using finder. When I unplugged the drive and reconnected it to the Time Capsule, the first thing I got was an error message claiming that the drive was not formated in Mac OS extended (journaled) as required. The best I remember, I clicked past that and opened Time Machine Preferences and reselected that drive to be used with Time Machine and had to enter the password for the Time Capsule. After that is seemed to connect fine. However Time Machine proceeded to back up the whole computer from scratch this time using a sparsebundle file which took about 4 hours.
Yes, that's correct. Time Machine stores it's backups differently when they're done via a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme vs. directly attached via FireWire or USB. The two cannot be merged or combined.
What you can do, however, is perform that first backup while connected via Ethernet; the backups will still be stored in a sparse bundle, so subsequent backups can be done wirelessly, but be done much faster than wireless.
I'm just going to leave it that way as it does not seem to be causing a problem.
Except for the space the first set takes up.
The last surprise is that when the Time Machine backup file is mounted (which I still don't fully understand what it means to be mounted) and I select it with finder and select "get info" it tells me the volume is formated in Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitve, Journaled). When the drive is connected directly to the computer it says it is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Yes, Time Machine does that, just why is not clear, as it can cause significant problems when restoring items when the capitalization of their names has been changed.
And do be *very careful* when using the Finder on your backups, not to move, change, or delete anything. That can corrupt them. To browse or restore from them, use the Time Machine application (the "Star Wars" display).
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

Using External HD connected to Airport to use for Time Machine - Problems

Hello,
I have an Airport Extreme (1 USB port on back) and want to use an external HD as the Time Machine. Originally I had the HD connected to the Airport and just using as storage. We have 2 Macbook Pros and both could see this HD when used this way.
I have since decided to use the HD as a dedicated Time Machine storage device (my MacBook crashed). I was instructed to reformat HD (which I did) and plug into each laptop to initialize the Time Machine (which I did). Both laptops saw the HD and did a backup.
Unfortunately when I went and plugged the HD back into the Airport it was not reconized by either laptop and I could not initialize Time Machine (TM did not "see" the HD as the storage device.
I can still plug the HD into each laptop and it will do a backup but would like to get this conected so it is automatic.
Both laptops have Snow Leopard installed
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thx
Jim

Sorry, the older "round" (looks like a flying saucer) AirPort Extreme cannot support a hard drive. It will only support a compatible printer at the USB port.
You need the "square" AirPort Extreme to be able to connect a hard drive at the USB port. It looks like this AirPort Extreme. Or, do you mean to say that you have this model?
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Using external HD connected to TC as media server

Just got my first Mac and I am trying to to get everything hooked up. I have the TC connected to AT&T U-verse via ethernet and I am using the TC as the router for my home network. My iMac is connected to the TC via ethernet. XP laptop, printer, iPad, and iTouch are connected wirelessly. I have three accounts on the iMac. I am using the TC for TM backups. Everything works fine. Currently, the iPhoto library is located in the primary account on the iMac. The iTunes library has been moved to the Shared folder. I need to be able to share iPhoto and iTunes libraries amongst all involved.
After reading many posts, I am just a little confused. I believe that the best way is to connect a separate external HD to the TC to function as a media server. I was thinking of using the Iomega Home Media Network 1TB HD for Mac. Can an external HD be connected to the TC via ethernet or does it have to be USB? The TC directions seem to specify USB. After that is done, what is the process for moving or copying the libraries to the HD so that everyone can access, view, edit or use the data easily? I'm a Mac guy now, so it should all work smoothly and easily, right:)

lml59 wrote:
I need to be able to share iPhoto and iTunes libraries amongst all involved.
Can an external HD be connected to the TC via ethernet or does it have to be USB?
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
Either way works.
The TC directions seem to specify USB.
That's because the USB option is the only one that requires configuration of the Time Capsule.
After that is done, what is the process for moving or copying the libraries to the HD so that everyone can access, view, edit or use the data easily?
Try the advice in this article for music:
http://db.tidbits.com/article/11627
If you read the comments, you'll see that this approach doesn't work well for iPhoto.

Is using external HD connected to AP Extreme for Time Machine supported?

Hi,
I'm reconfiguring my network and looking at different back up options for the family's computers. I have a few external drives that I use to back up but I'd like to connect them to an Airport Extreme so I can centralize them.
After doing some research I can't seem to get a clear answer on this-
-Can I back up via Time Machine to external HDs that are connected to an Airport Extreme?
-How much of a hack is this/is this officially supported or am I better off going with a time machine?
Thanks.

If you don't have an AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) yet you may want to save some money and simply share the drive from one of your Macs. The other Macs can use that as a destination for Time Machine backups.
I have a TB drive connected to an iMac which shares the drive. Time Machine on my iBook uses that drive as the destination for it's backup. The iBook is wirelessly connected to the network while the iMac is connected via Ethernet to the network.

IPod touch 8GB: speaker? and can i use the mic in the headset if I buy it?

As written in the subject line:
Does the iPod touch 8GB have a speaker? And more importantly can I use it with the microphone in the headset, if I buy it?

only the first generation of iPod Touch will not be compatible with the mic. so it isn't related to the capacity of the iPod at all.
if you are planning to buy a new one, it will even came with the headphone that include a mic. if you are planning to buy a used one, make sure which generation it is.

Using external mic with iMac 27 i7 under bootcamp with Windows 7

Hi,
I've recently got myself an iMac 27" with the i7 upgrade. I'm running Windows 7 Professional 32bit for gaming (Snow Leopard for everything else). I have a headset with two 3.5mm plugs, one for the headphones, one for the mic. I can't get the mic to work (headphones work fine though). I plug it into the line in port (as it's the only other port when the headphones are plugged in) but this doesn't work.
Does anyone know how to get this to work?
I read somewhere that the headphone port on the iMac is a "triband" port, so would work with the headphones provided with the iphone that have 3 bands on it (stereo sound and mic) or something similar...

Two things to try, first make sure your Win7 disk is spotlessly clean, my superdrive regularly spits out even slight smudges. then if that doesn't clear it up here is a maintenance tip with the reset:
As old as your iMac is, have you cleaned out the dust? Dust buildup can lead to over heating issues. Remove any and all things plugged into it including the power cord, Remove the RAM access grille. Vacuum all openings starting with the RAM access area (air intake). Vacuum all ports and plugs, DVD slot and the opening across the top of the rear of the body. Blow compressed air through all your openings and vacuum again to remove any dust you loosend. Reinstall the RAM grille. Plug in the keyboard and mouse if not blue tooth. Insert power cord...
You are now in a perfect position to do a
SMC RESET
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and ALL peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
It is the 5 second timing that initiates the reset.
Here is a link to a Widget to monitor your temps and other operations:
http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

Using external mic connected to headset

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for