PoducateMe: Practical Solutions for Podcasting in Education
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Several years ago, Apple included a proprietary mic (PlainTalk Microphone) with their
systems that users could effectively plug directly into the computer’s line-level jack, but
these microphones will not work with modern Macs.
1/4” Phone
This connection is used to attach equipment such as guitars, microphones, headphones
and other instruments.
Tip, Ring, Sleeve (TRS)
The 1/8” and 1/4” plugs shown above are also known as tip, ring, sleeve (TRS)
connectors, which describes the plug’s configuration.
Figure 8
As shown in Figure 8, the TRS plug is a stereo connector, and can be identified by
the two stripes that form a ring (B) behind the tip (A) and before the sleeve (C) of the
plug. A tip, sleeve (TS) plug is identified by a single stripe and is used for mono
connections, such as guitar cables. A stereo cable with a TRS configuration may
carry an unbalanced stereo signal, a mono balanced signal or a mono unbalanced
signal.
Balanced and Unbalanced Connections
A connection is said to “balanced” when the signal is carried over two wires plus a
ground. One wire carries a “hot, positive” signal, while another carries a “cold,”
inverted copy of the signal around the ground wire. The cold signal is inverted again
by a device such as a mixer and added to the hot signal. This effectively reverses the
polarity and cancels out any noise that has been picked up by the cable along the
signal path.
Balanced connections can be made with mono TRS or XLR cables and are
especially desirable for long cable runs, where the signal is particularly vulnerable to
electrical interference. Most consumer grade equipment, such as stereo minijacks,
carry only a signal and ground wire and are thus unbalanced. These connections are
cheaper to manufacture, and consumers who use these devices generally maintain
simple setups that require little wiring.
B
A
C
