What kind of microphone works with a Mac?

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I bought a microphone yesterday and it works with my PC, but it doesn't work with my Mac. My assumption is that the Mac needs an amplified microphone whereas the PC, running Windows can use a non-powered microphone.

What microphone would you all recommend for a Mac for the purposes of recording audio books 1) with only one voice, the narrator, and 2) a mic that can pick up several characters as they each read their dialog?
 
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MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
I bought a microphone yesterday and it works with my PC, but it doesn't work with my Mac.
What microphone would you all recommend for a Mac for the purposes of recording audio books 1) with only one voice, the narrator, and 2) a mic that can pick up several characters as they each read their dialog?

Apple produced their own microphone that was an accessory with PPC Macs up to about 2000 (maybe later?). That would do the job and it didn't require an amplifier. Where to get one? Check the Buy/Sell section of M-F, advertise there, or an online auction site like eBay.

For the purposes of recording several voices, you can suspend an Apple mike from a string in the midst of the readers, but best results would come from a mixer with several mikes connected.
 
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Macbook Pro 15" (early 2008, pre-unibody), 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM.
I just bought a headphone mic combo and was flabergasted when I found that the mic wouldn't register a loud enough volume without a mic amp (I happen to have one and can therefore confirm that it works fine when amplified). Even with the line-in level in system preferences set to it's highest setting, there's absolutely no pick up. Can this really be? The built in mic is pretty good for skype and such, except that I often find myself turning away from my computer to find something, and bought the headset for this reason. Bummer.
 

JKW


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Good luck, man. I've got a fairly decent podcast mic (Sampson CO1U) which I got to work w/black Macbook. Nah. No one on this forum or elsewhere seems to have an answer that'll help.

John
 
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different mics different uses

I own different mics for different purposes: for skype I use a Logitech USB desktop mic, which is great for its noise reduction and flat pickup, or a simple earphone/mic combo that came with a logitech camera I bought some years ago. But that's simple telephone use. For music, vocals and podcasting I started 2.5 years ago with a Samson C03U USB condenser mic... but as most condenser mics it's very sensitive, and has a strong proximity effect, so it requires a clean microphone technique, so I use it now for simple acoustic instruments or table omnidirectional recordings. About 1 year ago I purshased a Rode Podcaster (dynamic) which offers the advantage of built-in monitoring (this is great specially for starting podcasters). This one is the best USB vocal mic for its simple use and travel convenience. In my home studio I've invested a bit more through time and got better equipment, plus the actual need of using 2 or more mics for vocals, instruments or interviews: a firewire interface (I recommend Apogee and Presonus), and different mics (all XLR): Shure SM58, Shure Beta58A, 87A for vocals , Shure SM7B & Heil PR40 for voice over/podcasts (different voices work better with different mics, Electrovoice RE20 is also very popular).... and a Rode K-2 for acoustics.... But my advice to you is to assess your needs in terms of source kind and needed quality... just consider that the microphone is the beginning of the recording chain, so it's better to spend a little more money to get cleaner input: then you can process it all you want with more flexibility. If you consider a voice processor, I recommend the Aphex 230 - it's the greatest for single vocals. If you are starting in podcasting, a Rode Podcaster USB is the best choice in my opinion: then you can invest in more complex eq from there, but the Rode USB will always come in handy. Good luck!
 

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