How to Connect a Camera and Microphone

Why spend valuable time fixing audio problems in your video editing software—or worse, rerecording lines of dialogue— when you could capture pro-quality audio at the source?

Connecting your Blue USB microphone to your DSLR or mirrorless camera helps you assemble a better sounding final edit more quickly without manually syncing an external audio track. It’s an easy way to spend more time gaming, podcasting and playing music instead of troubleshooting out-of-sync audio.

In this article, we’ll show you how to connect your DSLR or mirrorless camera to the Blue Yeti USB microphone.

USB Microphone vs. Camera Shotgun Mic

Using a USB mic instead of your built-in camera mic gives you the freedom to move closer to the subject for more precise mic placement and higher-quality audio.

Many videographers pack a camera-mounted shotgun mic as part of their kit, which is great for capturing natural sound on-location (and recording extra room tone, just in case). However, being attached to the camera, shotgun mics are typically placed at such a distance that speech can sound washed out and difficult to understand.

Luckily, with a few common cables you probably already have in your camera bag, you can connect your USB mic to your camera’s mic input. Here’s what you need.

Photo by Kyle Loftus from Pexels

What You Need to Connect a Camera and Microphone

Here’s what you need to connect your USB microphone to your camera:

Mirrorless or DSLR camera, or a webcam with USB input, like the Mevo Start Laptop computer
Blue Yeti USB Stereo Microphone
3.5mm to 3.5mm TRS stereo cable
USB cable

How to Connect a Camera and Microphone

1. Using a USB cable, connect your Blue Yeti USB microphone to a laptop computer.

2. Adjust your computer’s audio settings.

In Mac OS, open System Preferences, navigate to the “Sound” panel and set both the Input and Output devices to “Yeti Stereo Microphone.”

PC users will open the Control Panel, click “Hardware and Sound,” navigate to the “Recording” tab and set both the Recording and Playback devices to “Yeti Stereo Microphone.”

3. Connect a 3.5mm to 3.5mm TRS stereo cable between the Yeti’s headphone output and your camera’s Audio Input.

4. Configure your camera’s audio settings. On Canon cameras, press the Menu Button and select “Manual” Record Mode.

5. Turn your camera’s microphone level all the way off.

6. Using the Yeti’s gain control, adjust the input level so that normal speech is no louder than -12 dB.

7. Test the microphone and camera. Adjust input level as necessary.

8. Press record.

Now that you’re using your USB microphone to improve the audio quality of your video content or streaming feed, you can watch the likes, comments and subscribes start rolling in—and never spend another minute dragging and dropping out-of-sync audio tracks. Check out our blog for more tips.