My microphone won't work on mac

[t_a_o]

Hi, I have a microphone that won't work on my mac. I tested it on my friends PC and it worked. I went into system settings and selected the correct input but nothing appears on skype or anything else. Is it possible that the sound input itself is faulty? The output works fine.

Thank you.

 

[dtravis7]

Is it the rig in your sig? If so, make sure the Mic requires no Power to run. Some do and they will not work on Macs. I have a simple Creative Mic that came with my old sound card and it works perfect on that machine in your specs.

 

[davetheblaze]

Is there any way to turn off the mic input on an imac.

 

[dtravis7]

If you mean the iMac G5 or Intel iMac, only way I know is turn the Mic level all the way down.

Edit: I just checked, if you have one of the above Macs, in the sound control panel select the input tab and select Line in instead of Mic.

 

[davetheblaze]

If you mean the iMac G5 or Intel iMac, only way I know is turn the Mic level all the way down.

Edit: I just checked, if you have one of the above Macs, in the sound control panel select the input tab and select Line in instead of Mic.

Yeah thats great, Ive got one of those and have just checked.
How did you find that out so quick?

 

[t_a_o]

Rig in your Sig? Sorry, what do you mean? It is not a powered mic. It is just a simple plain old computer mic. Surely analogue mic inputs are universal, no? I am begginning to think that this is a problem with my onboard sound. Does anyone know anything about this or how I might resolve it? I am eager to get on Skype with all my friends.

Thanks.

 

[dtravis7]

Rig in your Sig? Sorry, what do you mean? It is not a powered mic. It is just a simple plain old computer mic. Surely analogue mic inputs are universal, no? I am begginning to think that this is a problem with my onboard sound. Does anyone know anything about this or how I might resolve it? I am eager to get on Skype with all my friends.

Thanks.

Member Since: Aug 09, 2006
Posts: 14
Mac Specs: Powermac G4 500mhz (AGP Graphics), 110GB HD, 1.12GB RAM, DVD-RW. OS X 10.4

that is right under your picture.

All computer mics are not the same. I have that same system you have listed and some mics do nothing and others work fine. My macs input is fine.

 

[mac57]

Well, I harbour a suspicion that there is something odd about the sound input on Macs. I have the SAME problem with my Power Mac G5. Simple unpowered microphones that work just fine on my Linux and Windows boxes don't register at all on the Mac. I have been into the System Preferences panels for it over and over to no end. Ultimately I have sidestepped the problem - I got an iSight camera for video calling and it has an awesome microphone on it. This has resolved the problem of getting sound into my Mac, but not the problem of why perfectly functional mics don't seem to work. I don't know what the issue is, but there does seem to be an issue.

I am no newbie. I have gotten sound working on many, many computers, right down to having to configure sound drivers and kernel modules for my Linux boxes. You would think with all of that I could get the mic working on my Mac, but this one has stumped me. Hence my suspicion that there is *something* odd about this.

Thank goodness for the iSight.

 

[t_a_o]

Oh, I get it now, rig in your signature :dummy:

Thanks mac57. It's a big help to know that I am not alone with this. It is a really tough issue to get my head around. My only suspicion is that the mic takes a small amount of power from the slot and it's just not getting that from the mac. That being a stab in the dark all the same.

I am planning on a getting a webcam, so maybe the answer is to simply get myself an Isight.

Thank you,

Tom.

 

[Erudite.Warrior]

Oh, I get it now, rig in your signature :dummy:

Thanks mac57. It's a big help to know that I am not alone with this. It is a really tough issue to get my head around. My only suspicion is that the mic takes a small amount of power from the slot and it's just not getting that from the mac. That being a stab in the dark all the same.

I am planning on a getting a webcam, so maybe the answer is to simply get myself an Isight.

Thank you,

Tom.

Had a similar problem with my Mac. If your mic requires power, it will not work on your Mac (no power there). If you want to use your mic, the solution that worked for me was that I bought an iMic. My microphone works great now.

 

[mac57]

I looked up iMic on Amazon and read all the reviews. This is the URL:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006BALQ/?tag=macforums0e4-20

The answer may lie within. The product description (or perhaps it was one of the reviews) suggests that there is a LEVELS difference between a Mic In port and a Line In port. Unpowered microphones produce a very low level of signal, whereas a powered Line Out from say a stereo that you connect a Line In somewhere else produces a higher level (higher power basically) signal. Hence, Mic In ports are set up to detect and deal with much lower power signals than Line In ports.

What you have on your Mac these days is a Line In connector, not a Mic In. As a result, your microphone is probably being seen by the Mac, but the audio level is so low that nothing much is being picked up.

This jives with my experience. One day, out of sheer frustration, while I was in the Audio preferences panel, I literally started yelling into the microphone, with it right up to my mouth. I actually could see the very first bar of the Preference panel signal strength meter light up now and then. I should have realized right there what the issue was. This also jives with the performance of these mics under Linux. Under most standard Linux audio drivers, there is a "20 db gain" checkbox for Mic In, which I have always checked for microphones. If I don't check the box, I can't record from the microphone.

So, deductive reasoning plus some reading leads to the conclusion that the Line In input on your Mac requires a powered microphone, or something like iMic, which includes a small pre-amp in it.

Problem solved?

 

[t_a_o]

That sounds right to me. Thank you very much for your help, I may well just get myself an Imic or Isight.