Can't believe we pay this much for a laptop and yet you have to go through all theses trouble just to connect a mic f u apple

cant believe in these times we still have to plug 50 wires to make a mic work

Thank you so much for sharing this solution! I found that once the macbook recognizes the splitter, you can disconnect both the microphone and the headset and it will still keep it as external microphone (as long as you don't disconnect the splitter). This essentially means that if you don't want to have your headphones connected along with the microphone, you can disconnect the headphones once the macbook recognizes the splitter.

I got to give you props Bro, English not being your first language and you give a very good tutorial so that nothing is left unturned. My 5 year old now knows how to hook up his mic/headset to his MB Pro. I see a lot of people on here putting you down, "the video was too long" Do not listen to them, a really good teacher can show anyone how to to do it, I believe you achieved that. When you can not make it easy, you don't understand it, like most people on here. Keep up the good work........... obrigado ....... Axel

I've been trying to work this out for over a year. I need to use it for recording away from the studio.

Thank you so much! I have spent hours on my laptop looking for a solution and you have provided it. Now, instead of buying a USB mic I can simply buy 2 cables - much cheaper. I'm extremely grateful to you.

Thank you so much! I've ordered 4 adapters and they were all wrong. I'm so glad I found this video! Finally connected my Sony ECM-AW4 to my 2020 MacBook Pro using a 2 ring 3mm cord -> 2 ring adapter -> 3 ring mic adapter to my headphone input. I realize that is not technical language but in case another layperson is trying to figure this out. Still don't understand why it's so complicated!

Hi, good video but i can't still connect mi mic. my mic is already TRS, I connected splitter and headphones and doesn't work, also tried to connect C-USB adapter to the splitter, and nothing. AGRRRRRRRRR no idea what to do

I had to do the inverse: I had a splitter around, used a cheap TRRS headphone and a guitar connected to a TRS adapter, worked well on a mac m1 pro.

YOU ARE MY HARDDRIVE SAVER!!! before I was using my camera to record sound, I know, but it's coz of the Mac. I did this and it worked!!, just out of curiousity, I unplugged the earphone, and it worked too! so my output is just the macbook speaker.

Thank you! Maybe I can recommend you to stop that background music that is more a kind of disturbing noise. That would level up your videos al lot. Best Regards!!

LOVE your editing (on music) style. Soooo fun and refreshing! Thanks a bunch.

This video is still relevant in 2022, thank you for your help!!

I bought exactly what you recommended and it doesn't work on my macbook pro. Help!!

It is working straight with the lavalier mic now (BigSur - Feb 2021)

Just putting this out here: By following this video, it didn't work for me. I have a RODE Mic that's already TRS. So what I did is the total opposite: I bought a cable adaptor with a TRS female (RODEMic TRS to be connected here) and its other end is TRRS male (to be connected to the laptop). This way, it worked.

video is 5 times as long as it needed to be.

I had high hopes but I can't get this to work with a 2019 MacBookPro (all USB-C ports, headphone jack on the right side). Followed directions exactly. : /

2020 and this does not work. I am plugging TRS mic and headphones to the splitter. The headphones work, but the mic does not.

if you got a TRRS jack on one side, connect it to your mac and it should do the same. Thanks for your hint

I bought the cables and tried it but it seems Apple must have overcome this fix. There is another guy on KZfaq who recommends an externalplug and play soundcard port that uses a USB port. It's cheaper than one of these adaptors and looks like it will actually work.

i bought both adapters and it STILL isnt working. this is the most frustrating thing in the world.

man, i felt salvation when you said "i got you covered", and then straight up damned when i realized my Takstar mic is already TRS. I even have the exact same splitter bought from amazon

Dude my mic has a stereo out so two rings like your mic after you connected the final connector, yet external microphone for me still doesn't show up, do you know why this might be?

thank you! This was the only video I found that had a solution!

These Apple products are a joke. One pays an enormous amount of money for this crap and still have to go through nonsense to use an external microphone. Never again.

Exactly my reaction the moment my mic didn't showed up in the settings. Kudos to you Nerdy fellow. Keep up the good work.

I've seen so many videos about this but none said anything about the converter. Turns out my lavaler kit even had it!!! thanks so much!!!! Your content is gold!!! Just change that annoying background music and it will be perfect.

Huge help! Thank you. Love your approach as well. Well done Sir!

Who knew 3 years ago this vid would still help me. Thankxxxxx👍👍👍👍

meu amigo, vou te dizer! I have been struggling with this for a couple of years, but just didn't have the strength to deal with it. I watched a bunch of videos giving out the secret to connect the external mic to the macbook pro! All of them just use the splitter. I bought a splitter and it still didn't work. Then I started looking at the TRRS plug. My lapel mic is a TRRS. And I thought this might be it. Then I decided to search videos again and BAM!!!!! Your video was first in the queue. And you explained everything I suspected! AWESOME! GENIUS! I'm gonna buy an adapter trrs to trs tomorrow so I can try connecting. I think you solved my problem and the problem of hundreds if not thousands of people.

I've been trying to figure this out for the last half an hour. THANK YOU for helping!

To record audio from a normal TRS stereo source, buy a RODE SC4 ADAPTER CABLE - Female 3.5mm TRS to Right Angle 3.5mm TRRS. It costs US$15.

I'm using BOYA BY MM1 and it came with 2 different cables - 1 with TRRS and TRS. It says to use the TRRS for phones and TRS for DSLR. But when you explain it in this video, i used the TRS (which is intended for the DSLR) and it worked! Thanks for the trick and I don't need to buy another adapter. :)

The video I really need. Experienced the same thing last week, I just connected my rode and it didn’t work. This solves my problem.

Ugh, didn't work for me and I bought the exact headset splitter and adaptor that was linked. Bummed because I really thought this would work. Happy it seemed to work for everyone, else though. I'll figure something else out :(

Thanks. I got a USB adapter that did the same thing but seeing you go thru my frustrating steps were validating and helpful, still.

I've been researching this and there is something I would add to the very helpful video as follows: I have a Rode VideoMicroPro, this model has a TRS jack (and I suspect many watching this video will be wanting to use this microphone model on their laptop), in the video the microphone being used has a TRRS jack - therefore I suspect the splitter should work on its' own for my microphone and headphones (which also have a TRS jack). I have yet to test this but I am going to go ahead and order the splitter without the adapter cable, hopefully it works.

Bought adaptor it didnt work

"IT JUST WORKS"

What if the microphone has a TRS plug and is plugged into a TRRS to TRS adapter? Because mine won't work no matter what I tried.

Poxa MAN! Eu procurei tanto como resolver essa parada e tu me salvou. Obrigado pelo vídeo!

I was onto my FOURTH jack splitter and this nearly just made me cry with joy! THAAAAAAAANNNNKKKYYYOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thank you!!!!!!! I tried this hack with so many splitters, but no one has mentioned the TRS input.

Thank you! I appreciate it! Mac makes everything so complicated.

Thank you for your film. I like your approach. I'm still rather confused though as I found the key explanstion in the middle was too rushed. Maybe you could show it in a diagram or show the components again. Thanks

Gonna give this a try with that adapter thanks a lot! :)

Nice work! Thanks for this. Am attempting to patch a second MacBook bidirectionally into a Rodecaster Pro and really didn’t want to have to buy a usb audio IO interface.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! Been looking for this solution for the past 3 months..feels like giving up..THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!

Thanks so much for this tutorial. Still a little frustrating that my old pc had a mic and headphones jack and my upgraded amazing mac does not. Adapt(literally) and overcome though!

I followed your advice and it worked perfectly. Easy when you know how. Thank you for explaining so clearly. 🤗

Thank you - worked perfectly on MacBook Air (Early 2015).

OMG the trick is to unplug the adaptor and connect TRS mic to the adaptor first ! saving me $$ to buy an extra mic!! thank u so much !!

Me personaly my Rhode microphone was already a TRS so I didn't need the TRRS to TRS adaptor. But it was just a few dollars, Im glad I have it..

Amazing!!! Thank you so much. This worked just with the splitting cable for me. After hours of confusion I have my solution!

Thank you SO much for posting this and explaining so clearly. I've been beating my head against a wall trying to understand why my Rode Wireless Go works with my iphone and not my macbook. Mystery solved. Thank you!!

Once upon a time the same thing didn’t work, now it works, thanks.

I’ve been using a lav mic that has a 3.5mm TRRS along with a Rode Wireless Go, which requires a TRS input, so I’ve had a TRRS>TRS adapter on the lav all along. When I removed the adapter and put the lav’s native TRRS into my 2019 MacBook Pro it recognized and utilized the mic. I think that’s as simple as it has to be, is that MacBook Pro wants TRRS. So I just ordered a male/male TRS/TRRS cable that will hopefully allow me to just run my Rode Wireless Go (TRS output) into the MacBook Pro (TRRS input) without the splitter. Might not work. Might work. I’ll update later

Mine works now but i didn't need the adapter. My mic is already TRS. I just plugged my TRS mic into the splitter and it worked.

OMG Thank you so much!! I am so happy I just went looking for a video like this before I got crazy! Now let's see were I can get a splitter like that

Literally nobody: Still nobody: KZfaq: "tip our our ass" 4:23 LMAOOOOO

Just bought a microphone but think I’m going to return it now, this is wayyy to complicated and I don’t have the money to buy all these fancy cords and adapters :((

Thanks so much for the tip. I had all the right connectors, just didn't know I had to connect it all together first then plug into laptop. So silly. Thanks again.

Thanks much. I was about to give up until I plug out the splitter and plug it in again.

Thank YOU so very much. I've been trying to figure this out of months. Now I can finally finish my vacation videos. Your trick works on the new MacBook Pro that I got last year 2018.

Make sure that you plug your microphone and headset into the adapter BEFORE you plug the adapter into your MacBook, or the Sound setting may not recognize it and will not switch to the external microphone setting.

😂😂😂😂the beginning is so funny!!!

This works intermittently for me. I have the same connector, same headphone, and a rode video mic pro+. Occasionally when I do this it switches to external, other times it stays internal. I can't find the magic combination to get it to work on the first try. Currently sitting here unplugging and replugging hoping it'll switch over...

Hi, you had trrs in laptop and also on your mic. Maybe (maybe!) all you needed was a CTIA to OMTP adapter, these work in both directions, just swapping ground and mic ring.

I purchased the exact same Purple Panda LAV mic, which works fine with my Panasonic GH5 and SONY D100 recorder by the way, and I purchased the exact same headset splitter. I connected my white Apple TRRS earbuds (with volume control) to one plug of the adapter, then I connected my LAV mic's TRRS connector to the other plug of the adapter, then it appeared in the Sound Preferences, just like show in the video. HOWEVER, whenever I record using Voice Memos, QuickTime or any other app, even when I don't talk into the mic, I hear a rather loud high frequency whine (1kHz?). And when I talk, my voice is recorded, but the whine is so intense it ruins the audio recording. I tried different settings in Audio MIDI Setup, but to no avail. I have a mid-2015 15" MBP and am running MacOS Catalina. I noticed that if I remove the earbuds, the mic continues to work and the whine goes away. I think these earbuds must have a mic inside and that must be conflicting. I don't have any TRRS headphones that are only phones (no mic) so I cannot test, but that probably would work. But the biggest problem I see is that when running Catalina, you cannot disable Ambient Noise Reduction. So you will hear the noise levels go up and down a bit as you speak, which is highly undesirable for a quality voice recording. Googling did not turn up any Terminal hacks or workarounds for this serious problem. If that noice reduction could be disabled (and no, setting Audio MIDI Setup to to 4CH doesn't work because it only let's you use 2CH), then using the Purple Panda mic with the splitter would be worthwhile. For now, the audio noise reduction ruins it. :-(

Well my Mic is already a Trs and I have the Mic and Headphone splitter, and it still does not work!!! WHY?

Hi! When I go to the system preferences, the computer seems to recognize my voice through the external microphone, but I dont hear my voice. I cannot hear my voice at all, whether the headphones are plugged or not. Why is that?

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have been trying to use a USB mic with Mac OS High Sierra, and the OS NEVER recognized it. I was ready to give up when I found your KZfaq page! Thanks again, and I hit the subscribe button. :)

Thank you for your video... I have also a MacBook Pro and I didn't know that I could use this headphone jacket for microphone... But to let you know, it worked in my case, just inserting a "tree black strip" microphone jacket and an external microphone appeared right away... Thanks again

Hello Friend! did this scheme work with your rode video micro too?

Thanks for making the video and advice! Just purchased the Headsets Splitter from your link!

My Headsets Splitter & TRRS to TRS adaptor arrived today and the external mic works perfectly. Awesome, thank you :) :)

This was very helpful to me. Thank you.

2:26 is when he starts giving the answer

THANK YOU! Wow I could not figure this one out!

This doesn't seem to work with the Rode VideoMicro which only has TRS

Not all device same. Some cables work, some cables don't work. In case using the cable on iphone, it works. Impedance of Iphone's TRRS jack is little different from macbook's one. Maybe Apple made it on purpose or made mistake. I don't think Apple made mistake.

Correct TRS+TRS = TRRS. It still sucks that you can't get audio output while recording. That is, why can't you listen to how you sound? It's so annoying to have to record, test, record, test, etc...

Man, I want to thank you so much for putting this video out. It saved my bacon after buying the exact same headphone splitter and trying every combination possible (or so I thought). I then decided to give your video a try without much hope. But then, bam! It worked great. Thank you, thank you!

It didn't work for me. :( The phone did, but not the mic!

I didn't plug up a phone cord... just put the rode into the mic end of the splitter and then the other small adapter into my Mac and nothing happened. not sure what I did incorrectly

Hey thanks for the video. I actually found a USB splitter aswell - Orico USB-A - 3x 3,5mm Jack OMTP headset audio adapter. Works perfectly!

You’re a Genius my brother thank you for helping me out it’s appreciated…i had the adapter already and it worked like a charm 🤘🏽

why is your microphone TRRS? All microphones are either TS or TRS? TRRS is only for 2 outputs (Left and Right ears) and 1 input (microphone). why would a Lavalier use TRRS?

Helpful. Question: Can I use the MacBook speakers instead of the headphones? I am getting the MacBook to receive the sound from the Mic, but it won't play the sound out the speakers.

Dude..! You look like you could be Shia LaBeouf's little brother...hahahaha! Nice vid though.

Gracias, bro, Second time to see the video and you saved my life twice!

Brilliant!!! It worked, I'm not angry anymore

Mine works the opposite, I have the same mic as yours but it only get recognized when not using the splitter. With splitter it keeps using the internal microphone.

Thank you so much for the video, really saved a lot of time for me.

Thank you so much for this!!! 10 minutes before my online coaching, the mic wouldn’t work! This and made me realize I was using the wrong cable (trs) because the splitter was actually trrs for both mic and headphones. I’m using an MM1 microphone with two cables for tra input and trrs input. That bit about the mac expecting a certain electric signal made me realize that I was using the wrong cable for the splitter. The splitter’s input was trrs and I was using the trs cable of the mic. Whew. Saved me right on time

well i literally did everything, bought everything, and it’s still not working

wow man amazing.. a great video simply explained for such a frustrating problem. Well done! And you have like the only good video on this.. you're a pioneer

Valeu man!! Pastei também para conseguir ligar a guitarra, consegui graças ao seu conteúdo!

Does this work for newer MacBooks? My understanding is that it does not. The Dukabel splitter you link to says "This cable does not Compatible for iPhone, iPad, iMac, Mac and Nokia Lumia 1320."