Is The Microphone In The New Apple 16″ MacBook Pro Really Studio-Quality?

well hey there hero it’s David H
Lawrence the 17th and I’m doing this
video from the experimental testbed we
actually did some changes to the
lighting so this has just been a
wonderful experience for me and it’s
taught me what’s right what’s good
what’s inexpensive what’s expensive what
you really need to dial in when it comes
to being on video I talked about
Adrienne Salisbury’s launch party for
for his PVA his pro video Academy live
he talks about all this stuff just a
great guy if he had a chance to go to
that great but what I want to talk to
you about today is some rumors that have
been swirling like the day Apple
announced the MacBook Pro the new 16
inch MacBook Pro one of the most most
common questions that was asked out of
all the things it’s a really powerful
computer it’s got all kinds of really
neat features on it but the one thing
that voice over talent zeroed in on was
this statement that Apple made that it
had a studio quality mic and I just want
you to understand Apple’s definition of
a studio quality mic and our definition
of a studio quality mic it’s like night
and day yes the mic is great on the on
the new 16 inch MacBook Pro but it’s not
the kind of mic that we can use for
voiceover work one of my heroes
posted this mean we’re not gonna have to
use the at2020 anymore it no it doesn’t
mean that you’re gonna still need a
great voiceover speech microphone what
they’re saying is that the microphone
that’s built into the 16 inch MacBook is
better than the built-in microphones
been throughout the course of the
development of the Mac that still
doesn’t make it a high quality close
place to do quality mic like we’re used
to using you can’t get any closer to the
microphone you can’t take advantage of
base proximity effect the diaphragm is
this bait I mean there’s so many things
about it
for what they’re talking about for
picking up you know voices in a room or
doing video streaming or you know doing
that sort of thing yeah it’s great it’s
better it’s better I’ve heard it I’ve
played with it I’ve listened to it it’s
better but it’s not a studio quality mic
it’s it that’s kind of you kind of want
to take the people over to Apple and go
yeah you know that’s kind of it’s kind
of technical appropriation if I can take
the phrase cultural appropriation and
use it its technical appropriation
that’s not what a studio quality mic
sounds like a studio quality mic sounds
way better than than that so yes you’ll
still need a microphone that is really
great quality to do great voice work to
do great narration and commercial stuff
and everything not the built-in mic on
the MacBook I want to know if you’ve
gotten one of the new MacBooks or if
you’re planning on getting one of the
new MacBooks they have Catalina on it so
that’s a real big problem because
currently as I’m recording this video a
lot of the apps that we use don’t run on
Catalina so you got to be careful about
that but I do wonder if it’s in your
plans I wonder if it’s something that
you want I wonder if like my tech lead
you salivate over it Steve was like we
were talking the other day it’s like how
is it that we talk about technology like
this as though it’s a pinup poster from
when we were teenagers you know I I
don’t know but but yeah so don’t don’t
drink the Apple kool-aid in this case
the studio quality mic that they
describe is just a better built-in
microphone to pick up voices in the room
and you doing streaming but it’s not
appropriate for voice-over performance
work you’ll still need to get a plug-in
external mic or a studio quality mic and
a bridge to plug into your computer hope
that helps if you’d like to leave me a
comment about all this just scroll down
below this video on vo heroes com we
have a nice sane and moderated
conversation going on there and if you’d
like to get on my list we’re gonna do
these once a day through the end of the
year and then we’re gonna switch to once
a week on Wednesdays and I’m
and I might turn it into a podcast if
you want to be on the list to find out
what we’re gonna do
scroll all the way down to the bottom of
the page if you’re on vo heroes comm and
you’ll find a box that says get on the
list go ahead and do so and well we’ll
hook you up I’m David H Lawrence the
17th I thank you so much for watching
from the experimental testbed I will
talk to you tomorrow.