Activate A Microphone On Mac
Apples Mac comes with built-in microphones. You can control the sound level for those and other microphones you plug into the computer. It can be used to capture sound, music, or speech recordings. It also has been used to spoke on online chat with Apples iChat and other online programs. Follow the simple steps below
Turn on your Macintosh computer if it is not already on.
Plug in an external microphone to your computer if using one. Try plugging it into 1 of your computer’s USB ports.
- USB ports may be on the side of a laptop or the back of a desktop monitor. They can also be located on the front or back panel of a desktop computer’s hard drive.
- Check your computer’s instruction manual or Apple’s online support to find where you can plug in a microphone for your particular Macintosh computer.
Click once on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen. A drop-down menu will appear.
Click on “System Preferences” from the drop-down menu.
Look for the icon labeled “Sound” in the “System Preferences” menu. It may be under the category called “Hardware.” Click on the “Sound icon.”
Click the tab labeled “Input.”
Check that your Macintosh computer’s built-in microphone is receiving sound.
- Make sure “Internal microphone” is selected on the menu listing sound devices under the “Input” tab.
- Move the slider for “Input volume” to the right to make the volume louder.
- Test that the built-in microphone picks up sound. Speak or make a noise to see if the sound registers in the meter marked “Input level.”
Select your external microphone to use it instead. Look for it in the list of sound devices under the “Input” tab.
- Speak into the microphone to see if it works properly.
Close the “Sound” preferences window when finished.
Check your iChat preferences if using a microphone for an online audio chat.
- Open your preferences in iChat. Depending on which version of iChat you have, look under the “Video” or “Audio/Video” section.
- Select the microphone you wish to use to speak into while chatting.
Note
- You may also be able to access “System Preferences” by clicking its icon in the bottom menu of the Macintosh’s screen.
- Set the slider that controls the “Input volume” level to about 70 percent to pick up optimal sound for recording.
- If using audio software that goes with your external microphone, you may also need to set the software’s preferences to make the microphone your Mac’s input device.
- Technical support for Macs is also available by phone or email. Phone support may be free if used within the first 90 days of owning a Mac.