# Microphone on Mini Mac



## pez_queen (Aug 16, 2005)

Hi, I just bought a mini mac and Im trying to figure out how to use Skype with it.
I dont think it has a built-in microphone as there's a jack at the back for the microphone plug, but when I put the microphone jack where its supposed to go there's no input detected.


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## VegasACF (May 27, 2005)

pez_queen said:


> Hi, I just bought a mini mac and Im trying to figure out how to use Skype with it.
> I dont think it has a built-in microphone as there's a jack at the back for the microphone plug, but when I put the microphone jack where its supposed to go there's no input detected.


I'm not totally up on the Mac Mini thing, but traditionally, Macs accept _condenser_ microphones, which receive DC power through a longer plug that completes an active electrical circuit. This enables the input to allow for line-level input (such as those that utilize the plug you are trying to insert) as well as inputs that require amplification (through said DC power). To the "everyday user" this has been perplexing, however to those that require clear mic inputs through amplified signals this has been a good thing. It assists those who _require_ better microphone signal strength (and, therefore, clarity), but it leaves the average user (to whom the Mini is marketed, I must admit) somewhat in the dark.

The consumer-oriented sound cards one finds in the everyday PC try to accommodate both types of inputs, to varying (though usually not audiophilically pleasing) results. Apple has long allied itself with professionals in the audio/visual world, and, as such, has opted for more options (and, potentially, therefore, greater expenditures) for the end user. The ironic thing is that _most_ pro audio users of Macs don't rely on the (passable) A/D converters that exist OEM in Macs, but rather purchase external devices to do the conversion for them. Still, there are times that I, as one of those users, have been in the field, needed to capture a sound, and didn't have the external hardware readily (or timely) available for my use. That's when the good ol' Mac-acceptible condenser mic came out of the bag and was used (to varying degrees of efficacy).

Your solutions are numerous: get a mic that has this longer jack (one should be available at your local Mac retail outlet, will be branded as "Mac compatible", and won't cost you much more than a typical dynamic mic), as it will be a condenser mic; get a piece of outboard hardware that will amplify the signal so that the line-level inputs are sufficient (you can find such things at your local musical instrument store or [God forbid] RadioShack, for not much money); get some sort of software that will artificially amplify the signal once it's been captured on the hard drive.

Either of the first two solutions are preferable, as you're going to get a stronger, clearer, more usable (and understandable) signal into the Mac before it's captured on the drive. The latter solution will take the noisy, weak signal that the hard drive captured and will boost the signal, which often causes digital distortion (not good), or makes the sound so muddy that it is completely unusable (also not good). If this is a real-time application for which you are planning to use this mic, which it appears to be, you're going to want to do one of the first two.


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