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January, 2025

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Has anyone ever plugged their shotgun mic into their laptop?

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cultrara
Posts: 5147 - Karma: 46,849
Instead of getting a mic for my camera and my laptop, could I use a shotgun mic for both? I have a macbook pro.
Sep 15 2013 2:18PM
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1337
Posts: 31064 - Karma: 29,404
I mean yeah why not? should work fine
Sep 15 2013 3:12PM
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Balto
Posts: 25985 - Karma: 4,403
assuming you have the correct audio in port it should work theoretically. though I learned the hard way that not all mics are compatible with OSX after buying 3 different ones and none worked. USB mics are the best option for computers really.
Sep 15 2013 3:15PM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
How?

My MacBook has never had a problem with any mic that was plugged in, sometimes did require a bit of annoying selecting in Audio Midi setup.

Also the audio in on Macs are a line level input. You do need a battery powered mic or a preamp to drive this input.
Sep 15 2013 4:16PM
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cultrara
Posts: 5147 - Karma: 46,849
So does that mean a shotgun mic wouldn't work since it doesn't use a battery?
Sep 15 2013 4:35PM
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Forcillo
Posts: 3801 - Karma: 3,580
But it does... At least any shotgun I've used does.
Sep 15 2013 4:47PM
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cultrara
Posts: 5147 - Karma: 46,849
wow I can't believe I didn't realize that
Sep 15 2013 4:50PM
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
Depends on the microphone.

Most consumer grade stuff will probably work.
Sep 15 2013 5:21PM
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juicedrummer11
Posts: 1960 - Karma: 1,331
i used my rode videomic pro on my MBP once. worked fine for me. as long as you have a mini male plug from the mic it will work.
Sep 16 2013 12:39AM
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