Mic me Mac

November 9, 2020 5:59 PM

Suggestions for a wireless microphone for MacBook zoom, a wedding event.

Seems like this should be an obvious item, but I'm not finding any reasonable cost wireless mics for Macbooks. The ceremony will be zoomed with the laptop, but voices will be 15-20' away where I hope this mic will be placed.

Would like to spend less than $60. I'm not expecting outstanding quality.
For voices, mainly.
I'd prefer a handheld or desktop type rather than a lavelier/wearable type, but...

(Someone suggested using an iphone...is that possible? Though might be a challenge that anyone would lend their phone during the ceremony).

Any suggestions for wireless mics?

posted by artdrectr to Technology (5 answers total)

A wireless connection will not sound great but, more importantly, could easily fail or deteriorate during the ceremony. Unless there are doors or something that prevent you from running a wire then you should do that.

If you're set on wireless and you want to mic up a group of people with a single gadget then a conference room speaker/mic is like this is probably your best bet (that one is out of your budget, but I give you my permission to buy it from Amazon and then return it when you're done with it).
posted by caek at 9:15 PM on November 9, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks. If I consider a wired mic to macbook, what kind of distance can I achieve? And do you have wired mic recommendations within my budget?
posted by artdrectr at 10:02 PM on November 9, 2020

For Zoom, I've done events where the video feed is from my laptop camera but the audio feed is from my smartphone (I have an android). Basically, I'm logged in twice so I can position the laptop and the phone where they need to be. 15 feet away is too far away for a built in phone mic though. Can whoever is conducting the ceremony (or the wedding party themselves) have a lavalier mic plugged into a phone running Zoom that is in their pocket or purse?
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:20 PM on November 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

Ideally we need to know more about the layout of the ceremony, how many people you need to pick up sound from, etc., etc. but if you can run a wire then search for "USB conference microphone", get one with good reviews that is in your budget, and add a long USB cable.
posted by caek at 9:28 AM on November 10, 2020

Response by poster: For posterity, I ended up using a Blue Snowball USB wired microphone. Used the included 6’ usb cable with a 6’ usb extension, 12’ of length from alter to the macbook. Audio was great, voices came through Zoom perfectly, but music was cut out for some reason (muted background noise?).

Wired was the best way to go, rather than wirelessly.
posted by artdrectr at 8:07 PM on November 22, 2020