Hello musician73,
Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities.
We understand you've noticed an audio issue with the external microphone since upgrading to macOS Ventura, right?
Since you've tested this with a different device without issue, let's see if this may be isolated to the user account on your MacBook Pro. To test this, you'll want to sign in with a different user account, or set up a new user account to test this. Check out the steps below for assistance with this, and you can also review these steps here: Add a user or group on Mac - Apple Support
Add a user
1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu 
> System Settings, then click Users & Groups 
in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
2. Click the Add Account button below the list of users on the right (you may be asked to enter your password.)
3. Click the New Account pop-up menu, then choose a type of user.
• Administrator: An administrator can add and manage other users, install apps, and change settings. The new user you create when you first set up your Mac is an administrator. Your Mac can have multiple administrators. You can create new ones, and convert standard users to administrators. Don’t set up automatic login for an administrator. If you do, someone could simply restart your Mac and gain access with administrator privileges. To keep your Mac secure, don’t share administrator names and passwords.
• Standard: Standard users are set up by an administrator. Standard users can install apps and change their own settings, but can’t add other users or change other users’ settings.
• Sharing Only: Sharing-only users can access shared files remotely, but can’t log in to the computer or change settings. To give the user permission to access your shared files or screen, you may need to change options in File Sharing, Screen Sharing, or Remote Management settings. See Set up file sharing and Share the screen of another Mac.
For more information about the options for each type of user, click the Help button in the lower-left corner of the dialog.
4. Enter a full name for the new user. An account name is generated automatically. To use a different account name, enter it now—you can’t change it later.
5. Enter a password for the user, then enter it again to verify. Enter a password hint to help the user remember their password.
6. Click Create User.
7. Depending on the type of user you create, you can also do any of the following:
• For an administrator, select “Allow user to administer this computer.”
• Select “Allow user to reset password using Apple ID.” To use this option, the user must have set up iCloud on this Mac. However, this option isn’t available if is FileVault is turned on and set to allow the user to reset their password at startup using their Apple ID.
• Use Sharing settings to specify whether the user can share your files and share your screen.
For information about Apple’s privacy policy, see the Apple Privacy Policy website.
If your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, a new user can add a fingerprint after logging in to the Mac.
If this continues to occur with a test user account, can you try testing different cables to rule this out with the MacBook Pro? We understand it works with a different device, but we'd like to be sure we're checking everything to help out. In addition, check with the recording apps you're using to see if there are additional preferences that you can adjust to clear up and issues with the audio peaking and noise gate. Check out the following resource to confirm you're using an approved connection with the microphone: Connect a microphone to a computer running Logic Pro - Apple Support
We hope this is able to help, and look forward to learning more if not. Provide more details on the steps you've taken so far, along with any additional helpful information. We'll use these details to gain a better understanding of what could be occurring.
Have a great day!
