Quick mic/computer question

[gopack471]

OK I picked up an Azden SMX-10 for my 7d and it works great. I'm sure more expensive mics are better but for the limited amount of video I do this mic is great. Anyway, I was wondering if I could just plug it into my Macbook and use it with Garageband, etc. just for fun but it's not working. Any insight?

[Theus]

That should work.

Open System Preferences, click on the "Sound" preference pane, and then chose the "Input" tab. Make sure the mic is the selected input (i.e. not the internal mic). You can also test levels and basic operation from here. The blue bar will show the volume of incoming side. Use the slider to set it so that the blue bar moves a lot but never maxes out.

If you can't get any input to register from the Sound preference pane, then there's probably something wrong with your mic, your input jack, or your sound card.

The built-in sound card on a Macbook is not going to be very fast. Depending on what you're recording, you may have trouble with the amount of delay that gets introduced into the signal by a slow sound card. Garage band should automatically compensate for this delay though. It should be fine for basic recording.