microphone for G5 iMac

Hi Pete'n'Kaye, welcome to Discussions. have you gone into System Preferences =>Sound and tweeked the input settings for the external Mic? Give that a try and post back and include which port on the back of Imac you are using for the external Mic,(USB, Mic in, Firewire) that might get a little more response. Good luck, Bob :~))

Hey Pete'n'Kaye.

I bought a Logitech USB 350 headset that worked pretty well with online gaming.

I was making a sample podcast for my Church and discovered it worked very well for recording a lead-in for the message.

Just an idea but I hope it helps.

Click on the Store tab at the top of this site. Check out the microphones there. Prices vary.

Hello,

Does the microphone have a battery-pack installed in it? If there is no dedicated battery in the Microphone (or it's wire), then it is not a self-powered Mic.


The port on the back of your iMac G5 is a Line-in port. It is not a Microphone port.

The operative word here is "Line"

A "Line" in port expects "Line-Level" audio.

Line-level audio is the level of audio you would find on the RCA jacks on your component stereo system's CD-Player, Tape Deck, etc.

Two devices commonly need pre-amplification. Those are Microphones and Record Players / Turn-Tables.

Neither of those devices provides a line-level audio signal. They both need to be pre-amplified first.

Pre-Amplified computer microphones are getting harder to find. But, they are available.

A pre-amplified microphone will have it's own power source (such as a set of AAA batteries). And, it will amplify the signal prior to sending it to the computer.

Don't make the mistake of purchasing a microphone that claims to be "amplified" and does not contain it's own power source. That is not the same thing. Rather it is a rather loose use of the term Amplified. I've seen lots of so-called "Amplified" Mic's that did not contain any form of booster at all.

Make sure you purchase one that has it's own power source (such as batteries).

Here is one example:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=24501

Now, if your Microphone does have a battery in it, and you still cannot hear yourself on the computer, go into the system preferences (Apple Menu --> System Preferences --> Sound), and select "Input". Then, adjust your input volume to see if that makes an improvement.

Also, check to see if your microphone has a volume knob on it to boost the signal strength. It probably doesn't. But, some powered Microphones will.

Or, if you want to use a regular Microphone like the the other one you have, you can purchase a "pre-amplifier". This is simply a small powered signal booster that plugs-in between your computer and the microphone. It will amplify the signal to "line-level" before sending it to the computer.

Unfortunately, pre-amplifiers can be rather expensive for small ones, and rather large for the cheaper ones.

If you are handy with electronics, here's a document on how to build your own pre-amp circuit:

http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/micamp.html

One external solution around $120 is this simple and compact pre-amp:
http://www.microphones.com/microphonegroup.cfm?URLID=Preamp-Series

There are several USB and FireWire solutions that are much cheaper.

Such as:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

But, they sometimes cause a bit of "latency" in your recording. Simply put, if you were singing along with something or needed your speech to be synchronized, then the USB or FireWire audio method might cause a noticeable delay in your recording.

If the only thing you are recording is your speech, then a bit of a delay in your recording probably would not be as noticeable.

The reason you can use a cheaper Microphone with a PC, is that it actually has both a Line-Level jack and a Microphone specific jack. Older Mac's such as the G3's had both as well. But, the newer Mac's just have the Line-Level jack.



Now, if you just want to use your existing Microphone, you could try using the Griffin iMic to make your current microphone work:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/

It's about $40.

But, if you are wanting a simple and self-contained solution, then you might just go with a USB microphone.

Just keep in mind that you may have a bit of delay with a USB solution (either USB Mic or USB PreAmp) when you are speaking.

I have not used these, but here is a couple of USB Microphone solutions:

Microphone:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810

Head-set and Microphone:
http://www.macnn.com/reviews/review.php?id=199

Let me know if you have other questions.


I hope this helps.

You're quite welcome. Glad to help 🙂

It sounds like the lapel Mic just isn't strong enough or perhaps just isn't of a high-enough quality. You'll probably do better with a USB Mic.

Let us know if you have other questions.


P.S., if you'd like, go ahead and click the "Helpful" or "Solved" buttons on any of the posts / replies above if you feel they were helpful or adequately answered your question.

Wow, now that's a setup 😉

It sounds like a lot hardware to do the job. But, if it means using stuff you already have, then no problem.

I've put together a few multi-part solutions when I've needed to in the past. And, it always works if you think everything through.

My old Pioneer Stainless Steel tape-deck actually has buttons I can reach to activate the record feature. So, I just press the buttons I need to permit the play and record buttons to be activated.

It's an old front-loader where you set the tape up-right and insert it from the front. Then, you slide the door down over the tape. It's got the old flip-lever (like metal light-switches) type control knobs for setting the kind of tape (Fe-Cr, Cr-O2, Standard, Dolby, etc).

I keep that one around for some odd projects that just need the manipulative touch I can get out of it 😉

But, anyway, I'm glad you were able to use the information to construct a system that would meet your needs and get the job done 🙂