do you think line-in would be the best option for mac recording?
thanks

Michael
> On 10 Feb 2015, at 9:01 am, 'Chris Blouch' via MacVisionaries 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> The earlier Macbooks had headphone out and line-in. line-in is probably the 
> most common as mic-level preamps are delicate noise-prone things, probably 
> not something Apple would want to spend money on for the handful of folks who 
> would actually use it. For those who do care you can get all kinds of XLR mic 
> to USB preamp boxes. I know it's a common issue for folks who came over from 
> the PC which had both a line in and mic in only to discover the mic no longer 
> worked on the mac. Even then, cards like the SoundBlasters had a goofy 5 volt 
> 'phantom power' so those mics wouldn't work on any normal sound equipment 
> either. They were PC-only. Some mics do require power to operate such as 
> condensor or ribbon mics and that is supplied over the same wires. This is 
> known as 'phantom power' and is usually about 48v. So if you want to hook up 
> one of those nice mics your USB adaptor will need to also supply phantom 
> power. I like the Art Dual Pre which has to XLR/1/4" inputs which can be 
> adjusted to handle everything from Mic to line inputs and also can supply 
> phantom power.
> 
> http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=615405&Q=&is=REG&A=details
> 
> CB
> 
> On 2/9/15 4:26 PM, Michael Marshall wrote:
>> hey,
>> thanks for the stuff on electrical interference.
>> USB devices are particularly prone to interference i have found.
>> This is the one major mistake that Apple have made. All maxed should have 
>> three Jack's microphone, headphones and line-in i believe.
>> Michael
>>> On 10 Feb 2015, at 8:10 am, 'Chris Blouch' via MacVisionaries 
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Related to this, there are four audio electrical levels. Mic levels are 
>>> tiny signals that come out of a mic and usually need to go through a 
>>> pre-amp before they can become usable 'line level' signals. Line level is 
>>> typically for signal routing such as patching the audio output from a DVD 
>>> player to the line input on your Mac. Next up is headphone which is a much 
>>> stronger signal as it's going to drive physical movement of something to 
>>> make sound waves in your ears. Last is speaker levels which, like 
>>> headphones, range from a few watts to thousands to drive room or stadium 
>>> filling speakers.
>>> 
>>> All that is to say, if your TV output is for headphones, direct connecting 
>>> it to the line input of your Mac may give distorted sound. It shouldn't 
>>> hurt anything but you'll know it when you hear it. Most modern TVs have RCA 
>>> output jacks (or something digital on newer sets) which would be line level 
>>> and a better source for recording. If not then you'll need something called 
>>> a "direct box" which takes a headphone level input and generates a mic 
>>> level output which you can then run to a standard mic pre-amp to record. I 
>>> have a Mac-mini headphone output going to one of these to run it into a 
>>> Mackie mixing console.
>>> 
>>> The last bit it hum. This can be any number of things including bad cables, 
>>> ground loops and picking up interference from power lines. If it's a low 
>>> pitched humm that might be 60-cycle interference as alternating current 
>>> flips polarity 60 times a second in the US and 50 in many other countries. 
>>> In the case of a ground loop, you can google the explanation but it can 
>>> sometimes be when two devices are on two different power circuits. 
>>> Sometimes as little as plugging both devices into the same circuit can make 
>>> that go away. The aforementioned direct box can also have a 'ground lift' 
>>> switch which can eliminate the buzz in some cases. If it's from 
>>> interference, the only solution is to move the cables around to try and 
>>> make it go away or use better shielded cables.
>>> 
>>> Hope this helps.
>>> 
>>> CB
>>> 
>>> On 2/9/15 3:49 PM, Tim Kilburn wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> On a Mac, the headphone jack doubles as a line-in jack.  You should be 
>>>> able to go direct using 3.5 to 3.5 from the out on your TV to the jack on 
>>>> the Mac.  Using an app like Audio Hi-Jack Pro would do the recording for 
>>>> you nicely.
>>>> 
>>>> Later...
>>>> 
>>>> Tim Kilburn
>>>> Fort McMurray, AB Canada
>>>> 
>>>> On Feb 9, 2015, at 12:34, Michael Marshall <[email protected]> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> hey all,
>>>> i have a TV with a 3.5MM headphone jack witch i used to connect to the 
>>>> mike port on my windows computer and record the sound.
>>>> on the mac i have run into some significant difficulties with this.
>>>> Obviously the Mac has no dedicated microphone jack witch can be overcome 
>>>> with the iMike USB interface witch i have got. this has a mike jack so i 
>>>> thought i would be fine.
>>>> The main problem that I am having is that on that and any other computer a 
>>>> lot of USB recording devices including this one have an unpleasant buzzing 
>>>> sound. I have found this problem over multiple systems and multiple USB 
>>>> devices. My theory is that it is electrical interference between the 
>>>> computer and the USB interface.
>>>> what i would like to know is this, is there a way to use the 3.5MM 
>>>> patching cable connected to the headphone port on my television to somehow 
>>>> Connect to the Mac without USB? because i'm not getting the best Sound 
>>>> with my current configurations.
>>>> thanks for any help on this.
>>>> Michael
>>>> 
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>>> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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