Power management is the main problem amongst many laptop users. Even the PC sometimes needs power saving to optimize the performance. Annuity Power Manager is a free tool for both PC and laptop users to create, manage and schedule power plans to save your laptop battery charge. On your Mac, you can just click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar. Select your earphones from the list of Bluetooth devices. If you don't see your earphones after a few seconds, press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.

I'm looking to record my classical guitar and from what I've understood it small diaphragm condenser microphones are the way to go. They need phantom power though. Can plugging them into the line-in or usb ports provide the phantom power? Or is the only way to do so through pre-amps?' As a previous poster said, no phantom power on the Mac. There _are_ devices out there that you can 'insert' between a mic and the 'mic input' on the Mac that would provide the phantom power, but considering what they cost, it's probably a far better solution to buy an audio interface and get the additional benefits from having one.

Since you're a classical player, I'm sure you have a good ear, so don't get a cheap one. Important question: does your Mac have a firewire port? Chrome cast plugin for google chrome. If you have firewire connectivity, I recommend that you shun USB-based interfaces and get a firewire-based interface. If all you have is USB, well, get what you need to get.

I use an Echo AudioFire8 (which is now discontinued). However, the Echo AudioFire4 looks to be very similar (just slightly fewer inputs). You won't go wrong with this one. If you want to spend a bit more, I've heard very nice things about the Steinberg MR816x interface, which integrates seamlessly with their Cubase digital audio production software.

Others in this forum will recommend Apple's 'Logic' or 'Logic Express', but I find Cubase a better program -- very easy to learn and use, and much better than Logic in terms of 'editing capabilities'. Any interface will also work well with GarageBand, which is a good app to start out on.

Mics -- well that's a whole different area altogether! You might also consider visiting gearslutz.com and seeing what other classical players have to say over there.

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Unamplified Analog PC microphones just won't work. So Mac users were required to use USB Analog to Digital adapters with separate mic and speaker/headphone ports. As of 2010 and later - MacBooks, Mac desktops, and iPad Apple switched to a 4-Pole TRRS iPhone-style plug compatible with microphone equipped headphones or earbuds. Just plug your 4-pole headphones into the headphone jack, and the mic will be listed in your input sources. With a switch to 4-conductor TRRS plugs there's a growing range of 1.8'/3.5mm Mac compatible microphones and USB stereo computer headsets options for Apple MacBook, Mac mini and Pro towers, iMac and MacBook Air computers.

Check out some of our microphone reviews and recommendations for the best quality microphones for professional voice, music and radio recordings, Prosumer grade podcasting and videocasts. The Apple Macintosh friendly microphones featured on this website also are great for use with VOIP, online Mac Skype calls, iChat, FaceTime, WhatsApp and other voice supported webcam chat applications. XLR Connector Microphones For Mac USB or Analog mics are fine when you need just one or possibly 2 microphones in your setup. But for multi-mic vocal and instrument sound capture you'll likely want powered XLR interface mics attached to a mixing deck. Do note some USB mics are natively XLR but come with an XLR to USB cable in the box for quick, direct hookup to your Macintosh computer. Setting Up A Microphone On A Mac Setting up, switching and adjusting mic input settings can all be done in the OSX Sound Preferences pane. For more complex sound configurations for studio recording, the Apple Audio MIDI Setup app in your Mac's Utilities folder can provide extra configurability.