I solved a tech dilemma tonight that has bugged me since Christmas. It was one of those things that seemed that it should be easy, but everyone told me, “I don’t think that can be done.” It can be done. I just did it.
I have used my MacBook Pro to make videos for a while, but the camera in my aging laptop is not very high resolution. My iPhone 4 shoots far better HD video. My wife got me a great Christmas gift: a Blue Yeti Professional USB microphone… simply excellent audio input to my MacBook.
The problem I faced was that I was now left me with a tough choice — less-than-excellent video with outstanding Yeti audio from the MacBook, or really crisp HD video shot on the iPhone, but very average audio from the iPhone’s tiny built in mic. I don’t like those kinds of production compromises when it would seem logical that there must be a way to use the better mic with the better video device. (The iPhone, of course, has no USB input capability.)
Tonight I found a FREE Mac application called LineIn that solves the problem. (Did I mention that it is FREE?) The site from which downloaded it — http://www.rogueamoeba.com/freebies/ — describes it this way:
“LineIn is a simple application for OS X to enable the soft playthru of audio from input devices. In simpler terms, you can use LineIn to play sound coming in through a microphone or any other device plugged in to your Sound In port, just as was once available with OS 9’s “Play input through output device” option.”
Now I can connect the Blue Yeti mic via USB to the MacBook Pro, cable connect the earphone jack of the MacBook to the earphone jack of the iPhone, and run LineIn. When ready to shoot video with the iPhone, I click the “Pass Thru” button and — PROBLEM SOLVED! The iPhone HD video records the audio from the Yeti mic, passed through the MacBook as if it served simply as a hub.
I’m shooting something this week that I will post later as an example.