I sound like an air raid; do not want.

April 2, 2009 12:58 PM

Built-in MacBook microphone records an annoying buzzy/overloaded tone on loud vocals- is there a cheap fix?

I've been practicing singing to YouTube karaoke tracks, recording it with PhotoBooth or GarageBand on my MacBook (the 13" aluminum one). Whenever I belt, it records my voice as a buzzed-out feedback sound, like I'm spiking the level or something. My old PowerBook G4's internal mic did not do this, nor does my friend's white 13" MacBook.
How to fix this?

I'm usually standing about 1 metre away and my head is about a foot above the computer. Overloading happens even if I back off the mic on loud notes. I'm a little limited in that I also want to record video of me singing so I can watch my breathing and jaw, so whatever I do can't involve me covering the whole screen or standing somewhere other than in front of the laptop. I know I could get an external mic, but I want it all to be as streamlined as possible so I'll be more likely to do it often (if I have to pull out gear I just won't do it, from experience).

I've tried:
changing the height of the laptop; putting it on a hard desk or a soft vinyl kitchen chair seat; adjusting the angle of the screen (in case it's reflecting back the sound weirdly into the mic); placing a Tshirt around the mic part of the laptop to absorb some of the sound; and putting a tiny piece of dense foam (an earplug) on the mic holes to dampen the sound a little. None of those have worked.

The mic holes look like this: ~10 teeny holes in the aluminum, at the top left of the keyboard, near the hinge that attaches the screen. The webcam is top centre of the screen frame.

Any simple hacks I could try? Putting some kind of tape or other soft stuff on the hole? Putting the laptop on a different kind of surface to affect vibration? Any ideas welcome, feel free to think creatively or come out of left field. And I guess, as a final resort, recommend a cheap but decent peripheral mic I could buy?
Thanks!

posted by pseudostrabismus to technology (7 answers total)

How about a USB Microphone?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:02 PM on April 2, 2009

Sorry, I kind of buried this statement in a paragraph, so I'll re-state here:

>I know I could get an external mic, but I want it all to be as streamlined as possible. Prefer not to use any peripheral gear.

Thanks, Chocolate Pickle!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:05 PM on April 2, 2009

like I'm spiking the level or something

That's almost certainly what's happening, yeah.

Try System Preferences -> Sound -> Input, and bring down the input level.
posted by ook at 1:12 PM on April 2, 2009 [1 favorite]

Streamlined... physically?

I'm a little unclear on why wrapping a t-shirt around the laptop is worth trying, but you're not willing to just get a cheap and easily-removed-when-not-in-use USB or Bluetooth microphone.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:13 PM on April 2, 2009

like I'm spiking the level or something

That's almost certainly what's happening, yeah.

Try System Preferences -> Sound -> Input, and bring down the input level.

Second this. If you're recording vocals you should always do a levels check right before you start recording, because depending on the environment and other factors the correct settings will be slightly different every time. You want to make sure you've got the level high enough that there won't be a lot of noise and low enough that you're not going to run into clipping. I don't own a Mac but I assume there is some built in way to bring up a VU meter and adjust it right before recording.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:25 PM on April 2, 2009

>Streamlined... physically?
>I'm a little unclear on why wrapping a t-shirt around the laptop is worth trying, but you're not willing to just get a cheap and easily-removed-when-not-in-use USB or Bluetooth microphone.

Well when you put it like that, it sounds like a really stupid idea.

Adjusting the input level worked like a charm, merci ook & burnmp3s.
Sometimes it takes an anonymous voice from the Internet wilds, sheesh, a Tshirt, what kind of idiot.
Thanks, all.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:39 PM on April 2, 2009

To get the best level check, make the loudest sound you anticipate making and move the slider just under it to give yourself a little headroom. You were definitely clipping the mic input.
posted by bigtex at 3:26 PM on April 4, 2009