[HM] Help importing audio into my G4

[Jack Honeycutt]

Christian....

I can't tell you how helpful your information has been. I work with old 
16mm movie film and I am trying to find a way to import audio into my Mac.

>For audio work "on the cheap", I use Wiretap Pro from Ambrosia
>(http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/) to capture the track
>from the source,

I like it.

>then Felt Tip Software's Sound Studio
>(www.felttip.com) to edit.

Hummm

>As for the audio line-in on the G4, I've had issues with noise
>related to the analog in. Others have described the audio capture
>quality of the G4's built-in line in port from "usable" to "garbage".
>I ended up using a USB audio interface (which gave me much better
>sound quality).  Initially, I used a Griffin iMic (http:// 
>www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/),

Using the Griffin iMac, can I take the RCA out from a cassette deck , adapt 
the cable so it plugs in correctly, and then capture a cassette?  Or is the 
impedance a miss match?

>but I ended up needing to
>do some better quality voice work (and needing XLR inputs for pro
>audio microphones), so I switched to M-Audio's MobilePRE interface
>(http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main.html) about
>3 years ago. Never looked back, and I still use it to this day,
>although the MobilePRE's price tag (I paid about $250 for mine at the
>time) may be a bit stiff for a hobbyist/casual user;

I see that it is about $175.00 now.  The  bandwidth  of the audio I am 
working with rolls off at about 7,500Khz.  So I don't need something very 
high end.  But I will be dropping it into iMovie & FCP.

>Some people have success using the G4's analog in (read: the level of
>noise is low enough that they don't mind it). In my case, I like
>using the audio in other projects (Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Keynote),
>so using better audio interfaces results in less work cleaning out
>the audio afterwards. Also helps me justify the investment in the M- Audio 
>box. ;-)

Most of my audio starts out as optical sound on a 16mm movie film. (I 
rebuild optical sound amplifiers for Auricon movie cameras for a hobby).

About the only way I know to get that audio into my computer is to plug 
into the speaker and or headphone jack in my movie projector and then plug 
that into some device.  I don't have a line level output on the movie 
projector.  After I get my audio into the Mac, I would like to clean it up 
a little.  It has a lot of hiss, and snap crackle & pop sounds.

>So you MIGHT be able to find a cheap PC USB audio interface that will
>work with the Mac. Good luck.

I will nose around.

One  last question.  What connector is analog audio input on the G4 tower 
Mac?  It is not a 1/8"  plug, I don't know what it is....???

Thanks again

jack