Audio input on 2018 MacBook Pro

Maybe I can help you a bit. Yeah.. looks like you’re right. There are USB-c audio input dongles, but they all support mono mic’s and no tRRS, so that’s out. Behringer makes a u-phono which lets you connect 2 RCA’s as an input and has a USB-A as output. So you could get a cheap USB-A Female to C adapter plug and use that, or If you wanted to spend more and get more the Rega phono mini a2d should be better.

• as was mentioned by TheLittles, for cassettes you have 3 options-buy a cheap cassette player with a USB output, then USB-c adapter plug into your Mac.—buy that USB audio interface I mentioned, depending on your budget, hook up a cassette player to it and then to your Mac, or try to find a pro cassette deck with a USB output. I’d go for option 2 myself. Had to do a bunch of audio cassettes for my mom and already had a pro Walkman and elgato’s video tape capture cable already, which does come with 2 rca ins. Used audacity, input was recognized as USB audio, so loaded the cassette into the Walkman, made sure it had lots of power and clean heads, hit record in audacity then play on the Walkman and away we go. Of course it’ll be done in real time so a 60 minute cassette will take 1hour... you could probably even use a cheap pc video capture cable, the kind with a yellow, red and white trio of sockets on one end and the USB plug on the other one..

whew, I’m done......

jb

Yes, MoeHeld, you are correct. From what I understand, Macs use a special connector for the microphone, always have. it has 4 rings not the standard 3 ring stereo 3.5 mm plug. It's called a TRRS connector, so you can either get a TRRS to TRS adapter cable, or go for something that has a stereo line in and/or stereo mic in, and a usb output. Also, you may have to change the audio input in either system Preferences>>Sound or Audio MIDI setup. and I believe your MacBook Pro has just 2 thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports on it, so you'll have to buy a USB-A female to USB-C adapter as well. Luckily, both the USB adapter and the TRRS adapter cable should be affordable.

john b

DPJ Said:

"Audio input on 2018 MacBook Pro: Not sure how you would transfer music from tape into iTunes?[...]"

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Go Casette to MP3:

You wold use a Walkman-type device, and export it as MP3. Then, open it with iTunes.

For Me:

With all my old college cassettes, I exported them all. No music. If it were for music, I would have purchased one with other options on top of digital (i.e. multi-speed).

• Find a chincy one (inexpensive, low-end) form a retailer.

• Find a productive one (multifunction, high-end) from Amazon

[Edited by Moderator]

MoeHeld Said:

"I can find no connection on Amazon which allows stereo input to a MacBook pro."

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USB is how these Connect:

These would connect via USB. That is how they would synchronize with your Mac. You would upload the recordings, viewing them in the library of the recorder. The recorder would have a Micro USB or Mini USB port on it, the other end of the cable would be USB A. So, if there are only USB-C ports on your Mac, then you need this adapter: USB-C to USB Adapter

Go to Amazon and search for a "USB-C sound card". They are not expensive and provide both sound in and sound out jacks (a jack is the one with the hole.)

Did you look at any of the other, similar devices, for one that had stereo in/out?

The headphone jack on your model is only for sound out. It is not a dual purpose jack for both sound in and out. For sound in you will need to feed into one of the USB-C ports via an adapter or use the computer's built-in mics to pick up sound from the cassette player or your Bose radio.

You can use a USB sound card such as this one from Amazon: USB-C Audio Adapter, CableCreation Type C External Stereo Sound Card with Headphone and Microphone Jack Compatible with Windows, Mac, iPad Pro 2018, Plug and Play, Black.

Not sure how you would transfer music from tape into iTunes? But all line input is done through the Thunderbolt 3 ports only. The Headphone jack is no longer an IN/OUT connector, but rather an output only. I do voiceovers for my Final Cut Pro projects and I connect my mic through the Thunderbolt 3 port by way of a USB-C to mini USB-A cable.