[thegunfighter77]

Hey All -
Question: A friend of mine recorded some very simple acoustic guitar stuff on his PC, through an external mic, and the quality was great. How is the mic on an iMac. I know all about recording devices, etc..just questioning the capability of what comes with the iMac. Thanks.
-Matt

The internal mic would not be very good at hi-fi sound recording, but there is an audio input, as well as USB ports for a midi device, or microphone. The iMac is definitely capable of recording music, you will just have to research the best way to do it.

[thegunfighter77]

Cool...my next question would be:
Any particular mics, or are they designed for both pc's and macs?
Thanks.
-Matt

you need a special type of microphone, otherwise a line input. I'm not sure on the specs, but I know that a standard mmicrophone connection of 1/8 inch will fit in, but not work.. It is a mess, in my opinion, since I bout a mic thinking it would work, only to find out that it does not...

I use my imac DV to do some multi track audio recording of my own music. I record whatever instrument that I am playing "live." I use a stereo Realistic mike from Radio Shack. The part no. and name on it is " Stereo Electret Microphone 33-1065. This mic is a stereo mic with two 1/8 mono jacks designed to be pluged into the left and right recording inputs of a cassette deck. I just plug only one jack into the externel mic imput on my imac and go from there. The quality is good and it works fine, but I don't know what the pro's use. You can't as far as I know plug a stereo mic into the external mic port. I believe that the imac somehow through the use of software converts this mono input to a stereo input???

[Chuck_star]

OK here's the deal.
If you want a mic to plug into your mac. It has to be a mac mic. It is a bit longer than the regular 1/8 inch stereo plug. This is because it is a powered mic. BUT. This is not a the best sound solution for good recording. What you need is a "dynamic" mic. (dynamic being a class of mic.s not a name brand). $200-$3000. You will also need to run your mic through a mixer. Then you can connect mixer->RCA->Stereo-to-RCA converter->Mac. This will give you studio quality sound.
Have fun, Macs rule

[Kozmik]

Chuck is right. I wire up my mics, synths, and other various musical instrument-like things to a 6-channel mixer, which goes out via left and right quarter-inch plugs. I have a left-and-right-quarter-inch-to-stereo-eigth-inch cable, which goes from the mixer into the iMac's sound input jack.

[gorefan68]

I was under the assumption that the iMac input mic jack was MONO, not stereo. Is that right? Or no?

Also, where could I purchase a mac-mike to RCA convertor? I have some DJ friends, and I'd like to make some MP3s of some of their mixes.... Any help would be appreciated.

Ca$h

I also thought that the external sound input was mono. I did try and hook up a stereo mic and got all kind of distortion in a recording I was trying out. I have since used a mono mic input with no problems and very good quality recording. I do get stereo recordings with the mono mic though. I just assumed that the imacs hardware or software split the mono signal into left and right channels. But I really don't know. Also does anyone know if an external mic has to be powered. The mic I use is but I would like to know if it is necessary or not.

[gorefan68]

you aren't getting stereo recordings, its mono... stereo means that a sound can occur on one channel and not the other.... (AKA, sound comes out of only one speaker).

That isnt happening to you. You have equal sounds in both left and right channels (speakers).

I don't want to be a dick, but you think that most people would grasp basic A/V stuff. Oh well.

Ca$h

I'm not sure if I understood the last post clearly, but the external audio input to the iMac is STEREO !

I've recorded Stereo material using that input, and it works fine.

If you only plug a mono plug into it, well then that's all you're going to get.

[gorefan68]

The dude above me just said it was mono?

Whats the deal? Does someone know? Is the mic input STEREO or MONO????

Ca$h

[dolphyjazz]

It is stereo.


------------------
iMac DV 400mhz (99)
384 MB RAM

[gorefan68]

I'll reask, in more specifics...

for FIRST generation iMacs, is the audio input (aka MIKE jack) stereo or mono?

What about 2nd generation iMacs?

Ca$h

[CaseCom]

The tech specs for the original iMacs say it's stereo:

Minijacks for 16-bit CD-quality stereo input/output; 44.1-kHz sampling rate

It's stereo for the slot-loaders as well:

Analog audio input and output minijacks; up to 16-bit stereo and 44.1kHz sampling rate

I would like to clarify my previous post about the mono input. I tried to use a stereo mic to do some recording and got all kind of distortion for some reason. Possibly the mic is at fault or the input jack of that mic is a little short. I tried one of the two plugs off of a different stereo mic. This mic is equipped with one left channel and one right channel 1/8 inch jack. Not just one 1/8 stereo jack as most computer mics that I have seen are. I can record great sounding audio using only one channel as input. I understand that the recorded sound produced is mono. Using Cakewalk Metro I can pan a recorded guitar track to the left or right of the stereo field as I desire. If I then record another instrument I can pan this instrument through the stereo field as well. Hence the stereo recording I am getting. This is the way I record multitrack recordings on my analog recording equipment. Because I could not get a stereo mic to work correctly I was starting to think that the input was a mono input.

Definitely agree with the foregoing; the iMac is a good setup for recording audio on the cheap. I would forget about any Mac-specific microphones, though, if any sort of musical quality is required. Better bet is to acquire a small mixer (e.g. Mackie 1202, Spirit Folio, etc.), & a vocal or instrument microphone (maybe a Shure SM58-for vocals, or SM57-for gtr amps, or something similar, on up to good studio condensor microphones if you're demanding quality. Then, as stated above, a cable that splits between the stereo mini 1/8" stereo plug on the iMac's audio input, and two RCA (or 1/4" phone, depending) plugs for the outputs or sends from the mixer.
Be aware that the damn CRT in the iMacs whines quite a lot; you'll want to separate your microphone physically from the CPU, or a good mic will pick it up. (Sometime's I've even piled pillows or foam around mine.)
There's lots of great programs, but one hell of a deal (go there now!) is at http://www.digidesign.com They're giving away a Sound-Manager version of Pro Tools called Pro Tools FREE as a download - limited to 8 audio tracks, and some larger number of MIDI tracks (if you have a MIDI interface and keyboard). Other than that, it's got the whole plug-in environment, etc. I'm doing professional jobs with this and a good condensor mic; no BS.
Beware, it's a HUGE download!
Beware: the sound input/output connectors on iMacs are really cheesy - they cut in and out if you even breathe on them. But they sound OK for most purposes.

from SoundWrangler:
>Beware: the sound input/output connectors on iMacs are really cheesy - they cut in and out if you even breathe on them. But they sound OK for most purposes.<

Agreed.
Proposed solution for funky connectors: Employ PlainTalk plug from Apple's PlainTalk microphone. These plugs are a little longer and 'should' connect more solidly. You should be able to cut the PlainTalk cable and splice in your RCA plugs. However, the PlainTalk plug connects to a powered jack , which is amplified to boost the microphone.
Would the recorded sound through the spliced cables be changed adversely?

Any opinions on this proposed solution?

[stevieleaky]

Here is what I did, and it sounded alot better than I imagined. first i went to a rehearsal space. hooked up all the drums to a mixer that was there(included with the rehearsal room) got a half decent mix and sent the 2 (stereo) rca out to a 1/8" plug right in the side of the imac.... I recorded on deck II.... took the imac home hooked up an sm58 to one speaker of a marshal stack and plugged the mic straight in the side of the imac and recorded the guitar track... for bass i went straight in from the bass itself and recorded another track for bass, then the singer went straight in to the imac from the sm58... all recorded thru deckII.... added some effects, did some mixing and burnt the disc.... it sounds great....

I noticed nobody here mentioned they went straight in with no mixer, is there some technical problem with doing that or is it because its better with a mixer(i know its better just wondering if i'll fry something)????