NOTE: This document is very much under construction
No. There is wide variety of microphones available and to make the microphone connection to work you must have a microphone which meeth she specs of your soundcard microphone input. Finding a correct microphone is unnecessarily complicated because of following things:
Electret microphone gived high output signal level and need operating power. Dynamic microphone gives low level signal but does not need operating power.
Microphone input of most sound cards used in consumer PCs is monophonic. This limits the use of the microphone input for monophonic recordings. THe microphone preamplifiers inside normal consumer PC soundcards are not high quality devices, they are typically too noisy and too poor frequency response for any demanding audio use.
The microphone inputs in typical PC soundcards are enough for some voice recording and telephone quality telecommunications, nothing more demanding. You have to be very careful what soundcard you select if you want to be able to use it's microphone input for any good quality sound recording or audio measurement purposes.
Many users of computer sound cards purchase a professional microphone to improve upon the performance of the microphone included with the sound card. But because interconnection procedures in the computer world differ from those used in professional audio, it is not always easy to make a professional microphone work with a computer.
For more information and wiring details take a look at Shure technical bulletin "Interfacing Professional Microphones to Computer Sound Cards" which is available at http://www.shure.com/app-soundcard.html.
If the microphone can operate on an internal battery, no external source of power is needed and the mic can be connected to the sound card using correct wiring.
If your microphone is a condenser microphone with an internal preamplifier that requires phantom power (because a battery cannot be accommodated), it cannot be connected directly to the sound card. These microphones must be connected to a dedicated phantom power supply or a microphone mixer that has this feature; the output of the power supply or mixer is then connected to the input of the sound card using correct wiring.
Most Apple computers have one audio input and one audio output which can be easily identified from the graphical symbols (microphone and speaker). The sound input port is stereo and requires an auxiliary level signal in the 100 millivolt range.
The newer Macintosh models, like Quadras and PowerPCs, are equipped with a unique four-conductor 3.5 mm minijack that allows the computer to detect if the device that is plugged in is stereo or mono. This is a custom-made non-standard jack that is longer than a standard 3.5 mm connector. The Sleeve is used for ground, the first Ring is used for the left channel audio, the second Ring for right channel audio, and the Tip carries 5 volts of bias to the microphone.
There are two types of microphones in use in different sound cards: dynamic microphone and electret microphones. If your microphone is different thant what the input is designed to handle you will not get any useful volume output.
Dynamic microphones give low output level so the microphone preamplifier must have enough gain to handle this.
Electret microphones give high output signal levels but need power to operate. If there is no power applied to electret microphone you will not get practically any signal.
The following tips are for people who understand basic electronics and are comfortable with soldering. Mistakes may permanently damage the microphone or soundcard.
The audio signal should always be routed to the Tip of the miniplug connector on the sound card, and the ground should be connected to the Sleeve of this connector. No connection should be made to the Ring on stereo connectors.
Microphones equipped with 1/4" plugs usually have audio on the Tip and use the Sleeve as the ground.
If the microphone is a lavalier (tie-clip), headworn, or other type with a separate tube-or box-style preamplifier that requires phantom power, it may be possible to bypass the preamplifier and connect the microphone directly to the sound card input. This is only an option if the sound card can provide the proper bias voltage that was being provided by the preamplifier. WARNING: This modification described here will almost certainly void the manufacturers warranty on the microphone. Consult the microphone manufacturer before proceeding.
Typical PC soundcards supply 5V bias voltage through 2.2 kohm resistor. This bias is suitable for very vide variety of electret microphone capsules.