Windows won again. I bought the most ordinary microphone, but it doesn’t work on a Mac for 250 thousand rubles.

For more than six months now I have been making instructions for you in video format (subscribe). I do the editing and voice acting, sometimes Nikita and Mikk help with filming, especially in the project with Alisa.

Since my “studio” is the most mobile, the voice records what is needed. First there was the iPhone, with the transition to Premiere Pro I started talking directly through the MacBook microphones. Let me remind you that I am using a 2021 firmware with a 16-inch display based on the M1 Pro.

When the model came out, I paid 255,000 rubles for it, now this one costs 175,000 rubles. In general, it’s still decently.

The sound was recorded normally. With “auto-tune”, or, more precisely, with quick voice processing lessons, it sounded very convincing. But it didn’t reach the quality that was obtained using my friend’s regular eyelets a couple of months ago.

I decided, since we’re already seriously involved in roller skating here, sometimes we’ll tighten up the iron. It turned out that he came to the store and took what he found, it would be useless.

The Mac just doesn’t work, and it’s not the microphone.

I bought the simplest loop. MacBook refused to see it

Pay attention to the plug. Two stripes ruined everything

We wanted to quickly sort out the purchase, but, as it turned out, ordinary electronics stores don’t really stock lavaliers.

I went around about six times, and eventually came across a network that offers basic Godox models like LMS 12A and LMS-60G or Boya BY-M1. There are reviews about them in English, and right before our eyes.

It took me a long time to choose, because I’ll try to understand the theory first – I don’t recommend doing that, it’s better to listen right away if the consultants prefer.

As a result, Godox sounded cleaner in reviews and settled on the simple LMS 12A model. Absolutely basic, cost 1400 rubles. I didn’t expect much, but it turned out that there was excess optimism here too. The microphone didn’t work.

macOS selects headphone microphone due to MacBook Pro’s special 3.5mm port

There is no microphone at the “input”, but at the output the Mac sees them as headphones

I came to the store, however, without a laptop. Even at the purchasing stage, I was looking for a model with a USB-C output, but this was not available, so I took one with a “male” port on a mini-jack. The consultant saw that I had an iPhone, so he offered to buy an additional adapter, and I said “no, thanks, I’m recording on a Mac.”

At the checkout, just in case, we checked the functionality of the cheapest laptop with Windows using built-in tools. Paid and left.

I return home, in anticipation I grab my laptop, launch Premiere Pro, connect it and… nothing.

This time there was no point in blaming the Adobe program, because with all its endless glitches in modules it works stably with computer hardware.

I came to this conclusion when the system sound settings in the “input” tab did not recognize anything, but the “output” tab confidently called the headphones headphones. Polez understood and realized that the problem was ironclad, on the Mac side, and the engineers had not taught this scenario. It can’t be fixed with software. You will have to buy an additional adapter or replace it with a microphone compatible with the computer.

And this is what actually happened.

All MacBooks are compatible with only one type of microphone plug. The “problem” comes with the first iPhone

With these (three stripes)

The problem turned out to be things that not everyone knows.

Analog plugs for 3.5 mm jack with at least four types of reduction: TR, TRS, TRRS, TRRRS. There are different metal contacts separated by plastic rims.

Letters TRS mean the following:

Tір – tip
Ring – ring,
WITHLiv is a sleeve.

There is always a T tip and a C sleeve, but there may not be rings, or there may be three at once. Depending on their number, the plugs can transmit different types of data.

The sleeve is used as a ground so that the supplied current through other contacts of the receiving side has something to compare with.

Schematically it looks like this:

As you can see from the diagram, the TS plug can record mono audio, since the T tip is used for recording voices, and the S sleeve is for grounding. At the same time, TRS supports recording in stereo, since there are separate contacts for the left and right inputs.

Microphones are mainly sold with two types of input: TRS and TRRS. Both record in stereo.

The only difference is that TRS plugs are only compatible with jacks that are designed exclusively for connecting headphones. These are in the cell.

And here are the TRRS plugs for one new contact, which can also be connected to those sockets that work both for recording via a microphone and for output to headphones. This is exactly the type of socket found in laptops and smartphones.

The plugs with two strips in headphones without a microphone and with a microphone are the same. Both MacBooks are recognized as headphones

My first microphone, the Godox LMS 12A, had a TRS shaped plug and was basically only compatible with cameras.

The reason why a cheap Windows laptop recognized it, I assume, is that its jack does not skillfully output stereo headphones to headphones, and therefore it has three contacts left to mistake one of them for a microphone.

It was not possible to find exact technical information, but I also assume that in the MacBook Pro (and in all recent Apple computers) the headphone jack sees the microphone only if the plug is divided into 4 parts, that is, if it forms a TRRS.

Headphones with a microphone have one more connector in the plug (TRRS plug) than headphones without a microphone (TRRS plug)

If you insert a TRS plug into a MacBook, it recognizes the first two signals as stereo headphone signals. This is why, I think, on macOS the first microphone was displayed in the “output” column, but not in the “input” column.

This situation brought up a story from memory. I once bought cheap headphones with a microphone, which also only had three contacts separated by two rings. Now it’s clear that they sold me mono headphones with a microphone, but then I was indignant at why my iPhone 5S didn’t record the voice from the microphone.

It turned out that even then mobile phones had jacks that supported stereo headphones with a microphone, and my headset had mono sound + microphone. The smartphone read the first two pins as stereo audio and was unable to accept the microphone signal on the second pin as “input”.

And you still have to record on the built-in MacBook Pro

The new microphone with original connectors (three stripes) worked, but the recording quality of the Godox LMS-60G turned out to be worse than the built-in “studio” microphones of the MacBook Pro

As a result, I returned to the store, where I knew about such problems, but for some reason the consultant did not warn me. I took a Godox LMS-60G as a replacement with an additional payment of thousands of rubles.

The microphone started working, I tried to record and edit my voice several times. The result was disappointing.

After the MacBook Pro, the sound of the external microphone seemed light, without bass, and compressed. I could be wrong – the replacement was on the go, there was no time to delve into the equalizer for a long time.

But after three hours of playing with the same adjustments as in the track described on the MacBook Pro, I couldn’t bring the quality even close to similar. It’s as if I didn’t understand at all: the microphone seems to be external, but against the same external background it sounds worse.

I won’t say that I regret the purchase at all, but in case of random conversational shooting, the device will definitely come in handy.

In the end, it turned out that in order to make voice recording better than in the MacBook Pro, budget lavaliers no longer help, you need to look for more serious and expensive models. The main thing is that the model fits, that is, we make sure that there is a 3.5 mm input with variations of rings.

It’s a pity, this time the main principle of “it just works” in Apple computers… didn’t work for me.

📸 All photos in the article: