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General discussion

Macbook Line-in Problem

by macbookunl Sep 21, 2006 1:22PM PDT

I am trying to record a talk from my MD player using the line-in on my macbook, but I have no idea how to do it. (I have selected the line-in in the input and it shows that it is receiving the input, but there is no sound.) Help!?!
I would also like to be able to record directly from my microphone onto my macbook. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Discussion is locked

8 Posts
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Line In
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Sep 21, 2006 10:00PM PDT

To record audio from the Line-In port you need a program that records audio.
Do you have such a program?

Recording of audio, using your microphone, is covered in the user manual that came with your computer. You still need software to process the audio. iMovie & GarageBand will both record sound from the microphone


P

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Line-in
by macbookunl Sep 22, 2006 12:52AM PDT

I thought garage band would do it. Will it not? I guess I'm not sure what type of program I need to record line-in audio.

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It will
by mrmacfixit Forum moderator Sep 22, 2006 2:01AM PDT

just configure it to accept input from the Line-In.

Check out the Help file

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I will give it a try
by macbookunl Sep 22, 2006 2:39AM PDT

Thank you!

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Line-in Problems
by G0RTF Nov 8, 2009 12:58AM PST

Hi, I have been watching this thread because I am having problems getting my MBP (latest model)to accept line-in audio. I am trying to input analogue audio from my Hi-Fi phono line-out and have set the input on the Mac to Line-in in Preferences, but there is no response indicated. It works fine with microphone, (applied to either of the input sockets!), with full response indicated. But return to Line-in, and nothing. Am I missing something here? Will the line-in not accept analogue or something? BTW I have tried the same thing outside Preferences using Garage Band - all input options tried - no difference. Please help. G0RTF

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Better answer
by Frank Nospam Sep 22, 2006 2:32AM PDT

1: have you gone to System Preferences -> Sound and hilighted audio line-in? That's the most important step.

2: any number of Mac apps can record audio. for example: http://www.google.com/search?q=mac-os-x+record+audio+free

Those two steps should handle your MD player.

3: external microphones use the same jack as line-in but have much lower signal strength. So you'd need a preamp, 99% of which are professional-grade and absurdly expensive. Oh how I wish Apple laptops had PlainTalk.

The other option is buing a USB microphone instead, for about $20-50 depending on the quality level you want.

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good options
by bikemike Sep 22, 2006 10:25AM PDT
www.griffin.com iMic turns USB into mic or line-in AND offers secondary OUTPUT in addition to headphone jack.

www.rogueamoeba.com offers many affordable software solutions for recording external sources as well as selecting which (other) internal software application's audio to capture and record, and selecting which (other) application's audio to route to your mac's speakers / headphone jack, and (simultaneously) which application's audio to route to the Griffin iMic, or Apple Airport Express, for examples. RogueAmoeba also has affordable Audio editing software.

Your mac may have both analog and digital audio input / output. There are adapters you may need to access the integrated optical digital connection in the 1/8" mini input jack. This would allow a direct digital tranfer of MiniDisk player into your Mac - in order to make an exact copy of MD, rather than an analog copy in digital form.

Some external audio devices also use USB or FireWire for moving files around.
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A Quick Basic Solution
by tyee77 Apr 29, 2008 3:02AM PDT

If you just want whatever is feeding into your line in jack to play through your speakers, try the free "LineIn" from Rogue Amoeba. (I'm just a satisfied user--no connection to this company.) Of course, this also helps with external speakers!

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/freebies/

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