Solved Bought wrong microphone for recording lectures, will this adapter work?

[supremekizzle]

Anyone know headphone jacks? I bought this 3.5mm microphone, but I think it has the wrong number of rings because when I plug it in, the computer doesn't recognize anything is there.

How many rings does the SP3 accommodate? 3? 4? Theoretically, could I buy an adapter that goes from 2 rings (current mic) to whatever the SP3 takes and it should work? Thanks!

 

[sharpuser]

You have purchased a mono microphone. Most microphones are monophonic, not stereo. I don't think the problem is your microphone. Instead, it seems to be your Surface.

Let's start troubleshooting...

Do headphones work okay? I suspect they do not work.

 

[supremekizzle]

You have purchased a mono microphone. Most microphones are monophonic, not stereo. I don't think the problem is your microphone. Instead, it seems to be your Surface.

Let's start troubleshooting...

Do headphones work okay? I suspect they do not work.

By golly you're right! Headphones are non functioning. What to do?

After going into sound settings and setting headphones as default instead of speakers, the headphones now work, but the mic doesn't show up under the recording tab. The only option is the default realtek internal mic.

 

[kundas1]

umm, you can't put a microphone jack into a headphone jack plug... the hole for the headphones is for headphones only... like portable cd player or Walkman you can only use headphones in the plug... now that being said, the SP3 has great microphones for recording notes or whatever, if you insist on needing/using a external mic then I would go with a USB/BT type mic... then you can goto the sound settings and choose your choice of recording device as default...

 

[olimjj]

Before Apple iPods had internal Microphones , you could indeed use the headphone jack to add one. I think this is what the OP might have been referencing: Here is an example.
http://gizmodo.com/5158880/ipod-touch-and-ipod-nano-get-a-mini-microphone

 

[sharpuser]

Headphones work exactly like microphones. They merely have different impedance / sensitivity. You can prove this by plugging ANY speaker or headphone into your computer's microphone jack, and shout into the speaker or headphones. You will see it work.

- - - - -

So, your headphones don't work. That's what I thought. So let's move to the next step:

1) Right click on the desktop volume icon and select “Recording devices”.
2) Right click on an empty space and select “Show disconnected devices” and “Show disabled devices”.
3) Select “Microphone” and click on “Properties” and make sure that the microphone is enabled.

 

[kundas1]

Headphones work exactly like microphones. They merely have different impedance / sensitivity. You can prove this by plugging ANY speaker or headphone into your computer's microphone jack, and shout into the speaker or headphones. You will see it.

challenge accepted... lol

 

[sharpuser]

I hope we can get @supremekizzle fixed up.

 

[supremekizzle]

Headphones work exactly like microphones. They merely have different impedance / sensitivity. You can prove this by plugging ANY speaker or headphone into your computer's microphone jack, and shout into the speaker or headphones. You will see it work.

- - - - -

So, your headphones don't work. That's what I thought. So let's move to the next step:

1) Right click on the desktop volume icon and select “Recording devices”.
2) Right click on an empty space and select “Show disconnected devices” and “Show disabled devices”.
3) Select “Microphone” and click on “Properties” and make sure that the microphone is enabled.

I should have specified, headphones do work when I select them to be the device to playback through. Going to the recording devices settings and right clicking to show disabled devices, I found two that were disabled. "Headset Microphone" and "Stereo mix." I enabled both of these so I could select them under the recording settings in Onenote. Neither one will pick up my voice and now that they're enabled, the internal mic doesn't pick up my voice either. It's like the jack doesn't recognize the mic when I plug it in.

 

[sharpuser]

Now try this:

1) Right click on the desktop volume icon and select “Recording devices”.
2) Click on "Microphone" and then at the bottom, see if "Set Default" is an option.

 

[supremekizzle]

Now try this:

1) Right click on the desktop volume icon and select “Recording devices”.
2) Click on "Microphone" and then at the bottom, see if "Set Default" is an option.

Still recording only through internal mic. Tried recording with mic plugged in and unplugged, audio is being recorded via default internal.


I want to add that when I'm looking at the playback settings and plug in the microphone, it shows as headphones being plugged in. This is why I believe my SP3 is thinking that I'm plugging in a headset and it's not recognizing it as a mic.

 

[sharpuser]

Okay. Now:

1. Control Panel
2. Search for: Device Manager, select
3. See if your sound card needs a device driver.