GarageBand FAQ: Mic Line

Q. Can I plug my Mic into the Mic Jack on my Mac?
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A. Your Mac doesn’t have a Mic jack, it has a Line-In jack. Line Level is “louder” then Mic Level, so your Mac is expecting a louder signal, thus you’re not going to get very good results plugging a mic in, it will be too quiet.

Additionally, if you are using a Professional mic (such as a Shure SM57, etc.) with an adaptor plug, you have an impedance mismatch (The mic is Low Impedance and the Line-In jack is High Impedance). When a signal hit’s a mismatch it’s like hitting a brick wall, most of the signal is reflected back and does not get through.

There are a variety of USB and FireWire interfaces that will allow you to plug various kinds of mics into any current Mac.

Another choice, if your Mac has a Line-In jack, is to use a Mixing Console. Plug your Mic into that, and the Console into the Line-In on the Mac. Small Mixers can be had for very little money. This small Behringer mixer is available for around $45 which is a pretty awesome deal on a decent product .
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GarageBand from Apple Computer uses audio loops and MIDI loops in Apple Loops format. It can work with Audio Units plug-ins. Apple Macintosh Compatible FireWire and USB interfaces can be used to connect Audio and MIDI instruments to your Mac, and be recorded into GarageBand.

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