You can connect a microphone to your computer to record your voice, an instrument, or any other sound to an audio track in GarageBand. You can connect a microphone to an audio input port, USB port, or other port on your computer, or to an audio interface connected to your computer. You can also use your computer’s built-in microphone to record sound.
Connect an external microphone. If you'd like to use an external microphone, connect it to your Mac. A great USB mic for starters who want to get good sound quality without paying an arm and a leg for it, you can plug it directly into your Mac and not have to buy any adapters for it to work. One downside though is that many users on Amazon reported that you needed to keep it very close to your mouth to get the best sound quality. Apogee MiC Plus is a professional studio-quality USB microphone you can connect to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC. MiC Plus makes it easy to capture your best take with impressive quality, anywhere you go. Record any sound you can imagine, from vocals to voice-overs, instruments to interviews and everything in between. The most convenient is a microphone that plugs directly into your Mac’s USB port. In most cases, these microphones don’t require any additional software to work.
Usb Microphone For Macbook Pro
After you connect a microphone, you choose the input source for the track you want to record in, and optionally turn on monitoring. Monitoring lets you hear yourself play so that you can hear the part you want to record as well as the rest of the project.
Connect a microphone to your computer
Do one of the following:
If you’re using your computer’s built-in microphone, choose Built-in Microphone as the input source in GarageBand > Preferences > Audio > Devices.
Connect the microphone to your computer’s audio input port (if it has one), then choose Built-in Input as the track’s input source.
Connect a USB microphone to a USB port on your computer. Choose the USB microphone as the track’s input source.
Connect an audio interface to a USB or FireWire port, then connect a microphone to the audio interface for recording.
Connect an audio mixer or console to an audio interface connected to your computer.
Set the input source for a microphone
Select the audio track.
Click the Smart Controls button to open the Smart Controls pane.
In the Recording Settings area, choose one of the following from the Input pop-up menu:
If you’re using your computer’s built-in microphone, choose Built-in Microphone.
If you’re using a microphone connected to your computer’s audio input port, choose Built-in Input.
If Built-in Input doesn’t appear in the menu, choose GarageBand > Preferences, click Audio/MIDI, and choose Built-in Input from the Audio Input pop-up menu.
If you’re using a microphone connected to a USB port, choose the microphone.
If you’re using a microphone connected to an audio interface, choose the channel number for the microphone.
If the audio interface channels don’t appear in the menu, choose GarageBand > Preferences, click Audio/MIDI, then choose the audio interface from the Audio Input pop-up menu.
Make sure the input format matches the microphone or instrument. Choose a mono input for monophonic instruments (with a single channel), and choose a stereo input for stereo instruments (with a pair of channels). To change the input format, click the Format button to the left of the Input menu.
Drag the Recording Level slider to change the input volume level for the sound source.
If the Recording Level slider is dimmed, you can’t change the input volume in GarageBand. In this case, use the device’s own volume control.
Turn on monitoring for a microphone
In the Recording Settings area, click the Monitoring button .
The Monitoring button lights orange to indicate that monitoring is turned on.
To avoid unwanted feedback, you should usually turn off monitoring when you’re not playing or singing. Using headphones rather than speakers to listen to your projects can also help avoid feedback.
Almost all USB microphones that are compatible with Windows operating system, will be compatible with MAC OS X and other operating systems. While there are people who aren’t big fans of MAC computers and laptops, they’re still fairly simple and very straightforward when it comes to a clear purpose such as audio recordings. If you have never used MAC laptop or computer, you might need some time to get used to the differences. However, you shouldn’t worry about it because testing your USB microphone on MAC computers and laptops is still pretty simple. Some people swear that it might be even simpler than Windows. So let’s have a look at how it’s done.
How To Do The Test?
The first step in testing your USB microphone on MAC would be to connect the USB microphone to your MAC laptop or computer. While MAC’s usually have a lot of Apple patented ports such as MagSafe and Thunderbolt, USB’s are pretty the same. They’re just like any other USB you can find on Windows computers.
The connection is made through the USB cable you’ve received with your USB microphone. Simply connect one end in the USB microphone and another end in the MAC computer. The process of testing the is very similar to Windows, and if it’s most likely that you’re familiar with how it’s done on Windows – you won’t have any problem doing it on MAC. Once you made sure that you’ve properly connected your microphone to your MAC, here’s what you should do next.
Usb Microphones For Mac
- Click the Apple menu and then click on System Preferences. In there find a Sound which has a speaker icon. Click on it and a new dialog window will pop up.
- In Sound window, you will have three different tabs you can choose from. Tab you should click on is the last tab in that row named Input.
- When you click on Input tab, you will see a list of microphone devices. You will find your external USB microphone listed by its name.
- Simply click on the name of your USB microphone to select it and then you will see a slider underneath. Move the slider to the left or right to manage the desired input level. It’s not necessary, but you can test it to see which way it works better.
- After that, speak into your microphone and have a look at the input level bar below. If your microphone is working, you will see a visual feedback of the moving bar. That’s how you will know whether your USB microphone is working on your MAC or not.
I would highly recommend you to always test your USB microphone after you connect it to your MAC laptop or computer. You will just make sure that it’s working properly, but other useful features such as Input Volume might help you adjust your USB microphone settings for even better recording.
Usb Microphone For Mac Mini