You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Why is my Snowball Mic not being detected in sound system preferences on my Mac?

I have used this mic before on my mac to do voiceovers on imovie, last time I used it was probably a month ago, and now that I want to record again it won't detect it on imovie, I checked all of my preferences and everything is as it should be to allow mic usage but the mic does not appear on output sound preferences. Any idea why? please help!

Posted on Feb 1, 2022 9:05 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 1, 2022 10:03 AM

First thing is to go to System Preferences/Security & Privacy and click on the Microphone item in the left sidebar. Then put a check on iMovie in the right hand pane.



Although pretty obvious, make sure that your microphone is turned on and that your cable connection is tight and Mac socket not defective or malfunctioning, and that your mic is not malfunctioning (try it with a different device).


Confirm that your mic is compatible with whatever operating system and iMovie versions that you are running.


If you are trying to do a voiceover, make sure that your external mic is selected in the voiceover settings.



In System Preferences/Sound your external mic should appear in the Input box, not the Output box. Make sure that the input volume slider is not set to mute.


Go to Applications/Utilitites/Audio MIDI Setup.app/Input and confirm that your external mic is listed in the left side bar. The mic needs to be plugged in.


-- Rich




xxx



1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 1, 2022 10:03 AM in response to xili_23

First thing is to go to System Preferences/Security & Privacy and click on the Microphone item in the left sidebar. Then put a check on iMovie in the right hand pane.



Although pretty obvious, make sure that your microphone is turned on and that your cable connection is tight and Mac socket not defective or malfunctioning, and that your mic is not malfunctioning (try it with a different device).


Confirm that your mic is compatible with whatever operating system and iMovie versions that you are running.


If you are trying to do a voiceover, make sure that your external mic is selected in the voiceover settings.



In System Preferences/Sound your external mic should appear in the Input box, not the Output box. Make sure that the input volume slider is not set to mute.


Go to Applications/Utilitites/Audio MIDI Setup.app/Input and confirm that your external mic is listed in the left side bar. The mic needs to be plugged in.


-- Rich




xxx



Why is my Snowball Mic not being detected in sound system preferences on my Mac?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.